Topic: 5-HT2A receptor

Several drugs of abuse have recently been shown clinically to have long-lasting antidepressant effects. Psilocybin and ketamine induce antidepressant effects which last for days or weeks after a single dose, yet their pharmacology is distinct. Psilocybin is a classical psychedelic which acts via 5-HT2A receptor agonism, and ketamine is a NMDA receptor antagonist with dissociative hallucinatory properties. Our goal was to increase our understanding of acute drug effects in mice. We treated wildtype mice with psilocybin (1 mg/kg, i.p.) or ketamine (30 mg/kg, i.p.) and analyzed their behavior in

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most disabling psychiatric disorders in the world. First-line treatments such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) still have many limitations, including a resistance to treatment in 30% of patients and a delayed clinical benefit that is observed only after several weeks of treatment. Increasing clinical evidence indicates that the acute administration of psychedelic agonists of the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor (5-HT2AR), such as psilocybin, to patients with MDD induce fast antidepressant effects, which persist up to five weeks. However,