Why Psychedelics Hold Promise For Treating Anxiety, Depression

Why in the News?

  • Psychedelics, traditionally linked with counterculture, are showing potential in treating anxiety and depression.
  • A new study by Vidita A. Vaidya and her team at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, in collaboration with Cornell, Yale, and Columbia, offers insights into how these substances work in the brain.
  • Published in the journal Neuron, this research provides critical information about the effects of psychedelics on anxiety.

Why Psychedelics Hold Promise For Treating Anxiety, Depression

Research Focus:

  • The study investigates serotonergic psychedelics, a class of substances that affect the brain’s serotonin system.
  • The 5-HT2A receptor plays a key role in mood regulation, and common examples of these psychedelics include LSD and psilocybin.
  • The team used the psychedelic 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine (DOI) in their research.

Findings:

  • The researchers targeted a specific brain region, the ventral hippocampus (vHpc), crucial for emotional regulation.
  • Focused on parvalbumin (PV)-positive interneurons, which help manage signals related to anxiety and stress.
  • The psychedelic DOI interacted with the 5-HT2A receptors on these neurons, boosting their activity and reducing anxiety-like symptoms.

Challenges and Timeline:

  • The study spanned almost a decade.
  • Identifying the ventral hippocampus as the key brain region took around three years.
  • Locating the specific neurons and understanding how the drug worked took an additional five years.

Significance:

  • The research offers insights into designing future anti-anxiety drugs inspired by psychedelics but without hallucinogenic effects.
  • It provides a roadmap for clinical researchers studying psychedelics like psilocybin, directing them to specific brain regions.

The study highlights the importance of understanding individual receptors and pathways in developing targeted treatments for anxiety disorders

FSSAI

  • The study reveals that hallucinations are produced in a different brain circuit, separate from the one affecting anxiety.
  • Ongoing research will focus on identifying the exact circuit responsible for hallucinations while further refining treatment pathways.

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