Researchers at the University of Michigan have discovered that just one dose of a psychedelic compound can improve the brain’s ability to adapt and learn new things for an extended period.
This kind of mental flexibility is important because it often declines in conditions like depression, PTSD, and Alzheimer’s disease.
The study, published in the journal Psychedelics, was led by psychology professor Omar Ahmed.
He explains that many clinical trials are already exploring psychedelics as treatments for mental health issues.
The new research shows that even a single dose of a psychedelic drug can have lasting benefits, at least in mice, by boosting flexible learning abilities for weeks.
The research team tested a psychedelic called 25CN-NBOH on mice.
They found that mice who received the drug performed better on behavioral tasks designed to test their ability to adapt when the rules suddenly changed.
This improved performance was still noticeable three weeks after the mice received the psychedelic dose.
Elizabeth Brouns, a master’s student and first author of the study, pointed out that many human clinical trials only use one or two doses of psychedelic drugs. The team’s findings in mice suggest that even a single dose could bring long-lasting cognitive benefits, and these benefits might persist even longer than three weeks.
The study used a special training device called FED3, which automatically rewarded mice with food pellets when they poked their noses into specific holes in a certain order.
After the mice learned the original sequence, the researchers switched the rules, requiring them to adapt to a new sequence.
Mice that had received the psychedelic learned the new rules much faster than those who received a placebo injection.
Although the study was done in rodents, the researchers believe the findings are very relevant to humans.
Tyler Ekins, a postdoctoral fellow and co-author, explained that the parts of the brain involved—the prefrontal cortex and serotonin 2a receptors—are similar between mice and humans. These serotonin receptors are thought to be crucial for the therapeutic effects of psychedelics.
Still, the researchers caution that there are many questions left to answer. Psychedelic medicine is a fast-growing field, but more basic science is needed.
Ahmed emphasized the importance of understanding how different doses, or repeated doses over time, might affect the brain. Could multiple doses make learning even more flexible, or might there be a point where the benefits level off—or even turn harmful?
For now, the findings offer new hope that psychedelic compounds could help improve cognitive flexibility, making them a promising tool in the fight against depression, PTSD, and other brain disorders.
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