Current:Home > Contact-usThese LSD-based drugs seem to help mice with anxiety and depression — without the trip-InfoLens
These LSD-based drugs seem to help mice with anxiety and depression — without the trip
View Date:2024-12-23 14:22:42
Drugs like magic mushrooms and LSD can act as powerful and long-lasting antidepressants. But they also tend to produce mind-bending side-effects that limit their use.
Now, scientists report in the journal Nature that they have created drugs based on LSD that seem to relieve anxiety and depression – in mice – without inducing the usual hallucinations.
"We found our compounds had essentially the same antidepressant activity as psychedelic drugs," says Dr. Bryan Roth, an author of the study and a professor of pharmacology at UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine. But, he says, "they had no psychedelic drug-like actions at all."
The discovery could eventually lead to medications for depression and anxiety that work better, work faster, have fewer side effects, and last longer.
The success is just the latest involving tripless versions of psychedelic drugs. One previous effort created a hallucination-free variant of ibogaine, which is made from the root bark of a shrubby plant native to Central Africa known as the iboga tree.
"It's very encouraging to see multiple groups approach this problem in different ways and come up with very similar solutions," says David E. Olson, a chemical neuroscientist at the University of California, Davis, who led the ibogaine project.
An unexpected find
The new drug comes from a large team of scientists who did not start out looking for an antidepressant.
They had been building a virtual library of 75 million molecules that include an unusual structure found in a number of drugs, including the psychedelics psilocybin and LSD, a migraine drug (ergotamine), and cancer drugs including vincristine.
The team decided to focus on molecules that affect the brain's serotonin system, which is involved in regulating a person's mood. But they still weren't looking for an antidepressant.
Roth recalls that during one meeting, someone asked, "What are we looking for here anyway? And I said, well, if nothing else, we'll have the world's greatest psychedelic drugs."
As their work progressed, though, the team realized that other researchers were showing that the psychedelic drug psilocybin could relieve depression in people. And the effects could last a year or more, perhaps because the drug was helping the brain rewire in a way that was less prone to depression.
"There [were] really interesting reports about people getting great results out of this after just a few doses," says Brian Shoichet, an author of the study and a professor in the pharmaceutical chemistry department at the University of California, San Francisco.
So the team began refining their search to find molecules in their library that might act the same way.
Ultimately, they selected two.
"They had the best properties," Shoichet says. "They were the most potent, and when you gave them to a mouse, they got into the brain at the highest concentrations."
The two molecules were also "extremely effective" at relieving symptoms of depression in mice, Roth says.
How to tell when a mouse is tripping
Scientists have shown that a depressed mouse tends to give up quickly when placed in an uncomfortable situation, like being dangled from its tail. But the same mouse will keep struggling if it gets an antidepressant drug like Prozac, ketamine, or psilocybin.
Mice also kept struggling when they got the experimental molecules.
But they didn't exhibit any signs of a psychedelic experience, which typically causes a mouse to twitch its nose in a distinctive way. "We were surprised to see that," Roth says.
The team says it needs to refine these new molecules before they can be tried in people. One reason is that they appear to mimic LSD's ability to increase heart rate and raise blood pressure.
But if the approach works, it could overcome a major obstacle to using psychedelic drugs to treat depression.
Currently, treatment with a psychedelic requires medical supervision and a therapist to guide a patient through their hallucinatory experience.
That's an impractical way to treat millions of people with depression, Shoichet says.
"Society would like a molecule that you can get prescribed and just take and you don't need a guided tour for your trip," he says.
Another advantage of the new approach is that the antidepressant effects would occur within hours of taking the drug, and might last a year or more. Drugs like Prozac and Zoloft often take weeks to work, and must be taken every day.
Drugs based on psychedelics "take us a step closer to a cure, rather than simply treating disease symptoms," Olsen says.
veryGood! (7694)
Related
- Will the NBA Cup become a treasured tradition? League hopes so, but it’s too soon to tell
- House advances effort to censure Rashida Tlaib over her rhetoric about the Israel-Hamas war
- Antibiotics that fight deadly infections in babies are losing their power
- Powerball winning numbers for Nov. 6: Jackpot now at $196 million
- Ben Foster Files for Divorce From Laura Prepon After 6 Years of Marriage
- Don't respond to calls and texts from these 12 scam phone numbers
- Third GOP debate will focus on Israel and foreign policy, but also on who could beat Donald Trump
- Portuguese police arrest the prime minister’s chief of staff in a corruption probe
- Jamie Lee Curtis and Don Lemon quit X, formerly Twitter: 'Time for me to leave'
- The Excerpt podcast: Trump testifies in fraud trial, hurling insults at judge, prosecutor
Ranking
- Jennifer Lopez Turns Wicked Premiere Into Family Outing With 16-Year-Old Emme
- Children who survive shootings endure huge health obstacles and costs
- Family learns 8-year-old Israeli-Irish girl thought killed in Hamas attack is likely a hostage
- Why it may be better to skip raking your leaves
- COINIXIAI Introduce
- Ivanka Trump set to testify in civil fraud trial, following her father’s heated turn on the stand
- What to do if you hit a deer: It maybe unavoidable this time of year. Here's what to know.
- Sandra Oh and Awkwafina are perfect opposites in 'Quiz Lady'
Recommendation
-
Engines on 1.4 million Honda vehicles might fail, so US regulators open an investigation
-
'The Voice': Gwen Stefani accuses Niall Horan of trying to 'distract' Mara Justine during steal
-
'I needed a new challenge': Craig Counsell explains why he went to Chicago Cubs
-
Senator proposes plan that lifts nuclear moratorium and requires new oversight rules
-
NASCAR Championship race live updates, how to watch: Cup title on the line at Phoenix
-
New Beauty We’re Obsessed With: 3-Minute Pimple Patches, Color-Changing Blush, and More
-
Democrats win in several states on abortion rights and other highlights from Tuesday’s elections
-
Timbaland Receives Backlash After Saying Justin Timberlake Should've Put a Muzzle on Britney Spears