Hallucinogen Psilocybin (Active ingredient in Magic Mushrooms): Potential Role in Treatment of Depression, Anxiety & possibly Cluster Headaches.

**Admin** Tue Jan 24, 2012 10:05 pm

An imaging study was done, where arterial spin labeling perfusion and blood-oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI were used to map cerebral blood flow and changes in venous oxygenation before and after intravenous infusions of placebo and Psilocybin.

15 healthy volunteers were scanned with arterial spin labeling and a separate 15 with BOLD.

As predicted, profound changes in consciousness were observed after psilocybin, but surprisingly, only decreases in cerebral blood flow and BOLD signal were seen, and these were maximal in hub regions, such as the thalamus and anterior and posterior cingulate cortex (ACC and PCC).
Decreased activity in the ACC/medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) was a consistent finding and the magnitude of this decrease predicted the intensity of the subjective effects.

Psilocybin caused a significant decrease in the positive coupling between the mPFC and PCC.

These results strongly imply that the subjective effects of psychedelic drugs are caused by decreased activity and connectivity in the brain's key connector hubs, enabling a state of unconstrained cognition.

Source: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/01/17/1119598109.abstract

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