Psychedelics Show Promise As An ‘Entirely New Type Of Anti-Inflammatory Treatment,’ Research Suggests

*“Evidence is growing that psychedelics could hold the key to managing
inflammation, one of the body’s central drivers of many chronic diseases,
including depression, arthritis and heart conditions.”*

*By Nicholas Barnes of the University of Birmingham, Via The Conversation*

Once synonymous with hippies and hallucinatory experiences, psychedelic
drugs are now being explored for their medical potential. The stigma of
that era resulted in research being suppressed by drug laws, yet with
mental health treatments hitting limits, scientists have returned to this
controversial corner of medicine.

Substances like psilocybin (found in magic mushrooms) and ayahuasca are now
being taken seriously by scientists and doctors, not for the visions they
induce, but for the healing potential they possess.

Initially, this focused on treating mental health conditions like
depression, where currently prescribed drugs only help a minority of
patients. But these investigations have now expanded to include diseases
driven by inflammation, which psychedelic drugs may help reduce by calming
down the immune system.

In both human cells grown in laboratory dishes and animal studies,
psychedelic drugs like DMT, LSD, and a compound called (R)-DOI can block
the release of inflammatory molecules called cytokines. These protein
molecules fuel conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, asthma and even
depression, as well as increasing brain damage following traumatic brain
injury.

*Advantage over steroids*

But these drugs have a considerable advantage over typical
anti-inflammatory medications like steroid drugs because psychedelics
appear to work without suppressing healthy immune function, which is a
major problem with steroids.

Significantly, these laboratory findings are beginning to be confirmed in
studies in humans. Evidence is growing that psychedelics could hold the key
to managing inflammation, one of the body’s central drivers of many chronic
diseases, including depression, arthritis and heart conditions.

Take psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms. In a study
involving 60 healthy participants, just one dose was enough to
significantly lower levels of two key inflammatory molecules–TNF-alpha and
IL-6–over the following week.

However, not all studies have shown the same clear results. Some only had a
few participants and others were complicated by the fact that some
participants had previous drug experience, which could affect the results.

One big challenge with studying psychedelics in medical research is that
it’s very hard to hide who got the real drug and who got a placebo. When
someone has a strong psychedelic experience, it’s obvious they didn’t just
take a sugar pill.

That makes it challenging to interpret the results, especially for aspects
like mood, which can be significantly influenced by expectations. Even
changes in the body, such as inflammation, might be affected by this
placebo effect.

Meanwhile, the powerful Amazonian brew ayahuasca, which contains the
psychedelic drug DMT, showed promising results in both healthy people and
patients with hard-to-treat depression. In one study, those given ayahuasca
had reduced levels of an inflammatory marker called CRP.

The bigger the drop in CRP, the greater their mood improvements. This
suggests that reducing inflammation may play a role in improving mental
health and adds to growing evidence that conditions like depression and
schizophrenia are connected to inflammation in the body.

Scientists think psychedelics mainly work by acting on something called the
5-HT2A receptor, a part of brain cells that usually responds to serotonin,
often nicknamed the “happy hormone”.

This receptor sets off a chain of chemical reactions inside cells. But
here’s the surprising part: the anti-inflammatory effects of psychedelics
might not rely on the same processes that cause the mind-altering
experiences, such as certain calcium signals and other well-studied
pathways. Indeed, researchers believe different, less-understood mechanisms
may be involved–though they haven’t figured out exactly what those are yet.

In one animal study of asthma, a chronic inflammatory condition, two drugs
with similar psychedelic effects, (R)-DOI and (R)-DOTFM, had vastly
different anti-inflammatory results. The first drug completely reversed
inflammation, while the other did nothing. This further suggests that
anti-inflammatory effects may be separate from psychedelic effects,
potentially opening the door to developing safer medication.

The next generation of anti-inflammatory treatments may come from what I
call Pipi drugs–psychedelic-informed but psychedelic-inactive compounds.
These are medications designed to mimic the therapeutic benefits of
psychedelics without causing hallucinations.

Several such drugs have now been identified, such as DLX-001 and DLX-159,
which are being developed by Delix Therapeutics, an American
pharmaceuticals company. These experimental drugs show responses indicating
antidepressant effects without causing a “trip.” This could transform how
we treat a host of conditions tied to inflammation, without the regulatory
complications or patient reluctance often associated with psychedelics.

Although research is still in the early stages, evidence is building that
psychedelics–or new drugs developed from them–could become an entirely new
type of anti-inflammatory treatment. As studies begin to include people
with long-term inflammatory illnesses and use more rigorous and innovative
placebo-controlled designs, we may find that the mind-bending world of
psychedelics holds unexpected tools for fighting disease.

The potential to separate the healing properties from the hallucinogenic
effects could revolutionize treatment for countless patients suffering from
conditions where inflammation plays a central role.

*This story was first published by The Conversation.*

[image: The Conversation]*Photo elements courtesy of carlosemmaskype and
Apollo.*

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