Psychedelic compounds

Credit: Denis Pobytov

Because of their hallucinogenic properties and Schedule I classification, psychedelic compounds, such as psilocybin and psilocin, have scarcely been studied in scientific research (De Gregorio et al., 2021). However, a renewed interest is increasing in the scientific community based on recent data showing these compounds show antidepressant effects (Horsley et al., 2018; Hibicke et al., 2020), anxiolytic effects (Gasser et al., 2014; 2015) and therapeutic potential for alcohol use disorder (Abramson, 1967; Bogenschutz et al., 2015) and tobacco consumption (Johnson et al., 2014). Substance use disorders remains a growing public health issue today, with 20.8% of the US population reporting illicit drug use in 2019 (National Survey on Drug Use and Health), and post-relapse opioid overdoses are increasing due to the opioid epidemic and COVID pandemic (Vital Statistics Rapid release, National Center for Health Statistics, CDC, 2021). It is thus crucial to investigate any potential therapeutical target that could help decrease the seeking for opioids and help reduce relapse. It is also critical to estimate the risk that these targets become abused themselves. 

This project, supported by CaaMtech, a biotech company dedicated to pioneering the next generation of psychedelic drugs, intends to characterize the impact of psychedelic compounds on reward seeking and assess their addictive properties using well-established rodent preclinical models of substance use disorders.