Psilocybin rewires brains differently in stressed mice — SkimNews
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- UC Santa Cruz researchers used two-photon microscopy to follow individual dendritic spines in living mice for several weeks; their Oct. 15 Nature Neuroscience paper found that psilocybin rapidly prompted new connection formation and maturation while promoting removal of some older connections.
- New dendritic spines appeared in substantial numbers within 24 hours of psilocybin treatment, and a larger share matured into more stable, receptor-rich “mushroom” structures that support stronger, more persistent communication between neurons.
- Healthy mice initially formed more spines, but over the next three weeks their connection count returned toward its previous level as older connections disappeared, indicating reorganization rather than simple accumulation.
- Chronically stressed mice showed a stronger increase in new spine formation after psilocybin, while the drug prevented the unusually high rate of connection loss associated with chronic stress.
- The mouse experiments separated psilocybin-driven cellular rewiring from the behavioral response commonly associated with psychedelic effects, suggesting that some structural changes can occur without hallucinations.
- Jacob Baker said the newly formed connections can integrate into existing neural circuitry and persist over time, leaving a lasting structural trace of psilocybin’s effects.
Why it matters: For researchers developing treatments for depression and PTSD, the Oct. 15 paper identifies a cellular target for reproducing psilocybin’s synaptic remodeling without hallucinations. That matters because stressed mice retained existing connections while healthy mice returned toward baseline over three weeks, making prior stress a concrete variable in treatment design.
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