Magic mushrooms for schizophrenia, trial is underway

Green · August 9, 2015, 4:41pm

Magic mushrooms for schizophrenia? I dont know how to do links but its latest news

shutterbug · August 9, 2015, 5:07pm

I’m not exactly sure this is mainstream news?

Also, the study is being conducted by one “Professor Nutt”. No, really! You can’t make this stuff up, folks.

He has also been fired from a previous job for outlandish statements:

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/oct/30/drugs-adviser-david-nutt-sacked

I wouldn’t put too much hope into this.

Pixel.

Green · August 9, 2015, 5:38pm

Yeh im taking it with a pinch of salt. I mean magic mushrooms would surely worson schizophrenia? But if it does work ill be amazed

anon74700328 · August 9, 2015, 6:05pm

SRC inhibitors as potential antipsychotics: Can magic mushrooms (help in the search for a) cure schizophrenia?

A hallucinogenic drug derived from magic mushrooms is being given to human guinea pigs in a controversial experiment aimed at curing schizophrenia.

Professor David Nutt, who was sacked as a Government adviser after a controversy about the dangers of drugs, is leading the study that is costing the taxpayer £250,000 (NZD$585,000).

Volunteers at King’s College London will be given psilocybin - the naturally occurring psychedelic compound produced by more than 200 species of mushrooms - and placed inside an MRI scanner to monitor their brain activity.

They will experience a “high” for an hour and have been warned “the size and shape of things can appear distorted, walls may appear to move, shapes and colours may be seen on surfaces, the room may appear to get bigger or brighter, and time may appear to pass more slowly”.

The scientists believe the hallucinations experienced by users of magic mushrooms are caused by the same part of the brain that is active during a schizophrenic episode.

After the 24 volunteers have had their dose, they will then be given an experimental drug called saracatinib. The hope is that if the saracatinib stops the hallucinations of the psilocybin, then it could also alleviate schizophrenia.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11494437

Sorry for the misleading title it’s posted as is(mushrooms won’t be doing the curing).

This was a topic of discussion earlier. Is this what you are referring to?

Wave · August 9, 2015, 6:09pm

WTF this is just ridiculous - I think that this is criminal

bingobongo · August 12, 2015, 2:17pm

Among all substances that can be experienced, it makes no sense to experience a hallucinogen. We know that hallucinogens activate receptors 5HT2a and causing symptoms similar to those of schizophrenia (positive as well as negative). Are interesting research on healthy subjects, indicating that can change the personality of the people and making them more open (under certain circumstances), but to study it to treat schizophrenia is madness.

In my opinion there is an interesting thing that should be resolved regarding the 5HT2a receptor, and I hope that sooner or later comes to mind to some researchers (maybe some researcher goes from here you never know). The 5HT2a receptor is a special, because it seems to down-regulate depending on the substance, regardless of whether it is an antagonist or agonist (or inverse agonist), or better, you can not know how it will behave the receptor until the substance will associated with it.

I found it very, very curious fact. Reading studies about the gene encoding this receptor I read (as is obvious) that those who have many receptors 5HT2a is easier than might suffer from schizophrenia, but contrary to what I thought, that same gene, one that leads more easily schizophrenia, It leads people to have more memory! It is very strange, because in fact the other genes that I know to be involved in schizophrenia are also implicated in poorer cognitive skills (in fact one of the symptoms of schizophrenia have cognitive disorders). This should be investigated, because although we know that to treat schizophrenia, we have to use an antagonist, we must also take into account the effect of chronic antagonism, but we do not know what is best at this point, we need to increase or decrease the number of receptors ? The answer “decrease” is not obvious. Also you should check which of the drugs currently on the market increase and which decrease the number of receptors 5HT2a.

In any case the use of 5HT2a agonists deil is folly, an agonist of these receptors increases the number of D2 receptors, increases the dyskinesia etc.

anon74700328 · August 12, 2015, 2:27pm

I think they are inducing the psychoactive state in subjects and then trying to counteract the effects with some drug they cooked up.

The shrooms themselves would never be the cure.

anon74700328 · August 12, 2015, 2:29pm

@notmoses this was the research I was talking about.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Effects of psilocybin on hippocampal neurogenesis and extinction of trace fear conditioning.

BJ Catlow, S Song, DA Paredes, CL Kirstein and J Sanchez-Ramos, Experimental brain research, Aug 2013

Drugs that modulate serotonin (5-HT) synaptic concentrations impact neurogenesis and hippocampal (HPC)-dependent learning. The primary objective is to determine the extent to which psilocybin (PSOP) modulates neurogenesis and thereby affects acquisition and extinction of HPC-dependent trace fear conditioning. PSOP, the 5-HT2A agonist 25I-NBMeO and the 5-HT2A/C antagonist ketanserin were administered via an acute intraperitoneal injection to mice. Trace fear conditioning was measured as the amount of time spent immobile in the presence of the conditioned stimulus (CS, auditory tone), trace (silent interval) and post-trace interval over 10 trials. Extinction was determined by the number of trials required to resume mobility during CS, trace and post-trace when the shock was not delivered. Neurogenesis was determined by unbiased counts of cells in the dentate gyrus of the HPC birth-dated with BrdU co-expressing a neuronal marker. Mice treated with a range of doses of PSOP acquired a robust conditioned fear response. Mice injected with low doses of PSOP extinguished cued fear conditioning significantly more rapidly than high-dose PSOP or saline-treated mice. Injection of PSOP, 25I-NBMeO or ketanserin resulted in significant dose-dependent decreases in number of newborn neurons in hippocampus. At the low doses of PSOP that enhanced extinction, neurogenesis was not decreased, but rather tended toward an increase. Extinction of "fear conditioning" may be mediated by actions of the drugs at sites other than hippocampus such as the amygdala, which is known to mediate the perception of fear. Another caveat is that PSOP is not purely selective for 5-HT2A receptors. PSOP facilitates extinction of the classically conditioned fear response, and this, and similar agents, should be explored as potential treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder and related conditions.

anon63589023 · August 12, 2015, 2:46pm

I can confirm…Magic mushrooms do not help schizophrenia. Low dose Ayahuasca on the other hand…there should be research done on that on the treatment of all mental illnesses with Ayahuasca.

anon74700328 · August 12, 2015, 2:46pm

Nice to see you around dude. @turningthepage

anon63589023 · August 12, 2015, 2:48pm

Thanks life has just been real good that I’ve felt not much reason to come on here.

anon74700328 · August 12, 2015, 2:50pm

That great man.

Things o going well on my end as well. I still spend way to much time on here though. I’ve forsaken having a real life as the hallucinations just wind me up. At home here everything is at a minimum. I’m actually learning to think normally again.

anon63589023 · August 12, 2015, 2:54pm

Glad things are going well for you too.

I’ve been in a real good mood…and substance abuse is limited…anxiety way down. No girls in my life (good thing maybe).

Been working a lot with my family and getting ready to go back to school. Got a haircut. Idk I can’t complain. Symptoms have been minimal. Reading books a lot and writing too and hiking. Not much social life other than my neighbor and my family but I like it that way.

anon74700328 · August 12, 2015, 3:01pm

Yeah man minimalism helps one relax. I’ve cut my caffeine down to an odd mountain dew every couple of days. Been smoking quite a bit today, but the last couple days before that I had a lot of control.

I’ve given up on finding a girl for now. The pursuit just led to stress and disappointment. I do browse dating websites still. I mean might as well. It turns out there are a few cute like minded girls in this town. I’ll probably never meet them, but it’s comforting to know.

I can’t say I’ve been in a good mood, but it’s been well over a week since I’ve had a depressive swing. That was on day two of starting this isolated lifestyle. Faced a bunch of ■■■■, had to enact acceptance and come to peace with things. It’s been smooth since then. The mind get closer to where I want to be every day. Takes a lot of patience though to just sit inside all day.

notmoses · August 12, 2015, 9:21pm

Unfortunately, it’s not difficult to take issue with from the standpoint of useful and/or lasting effects. There are all manner of exogenous substances that can be introduced into the brain that will produce “relief.” (Heroin and oxycontin come into my mind immediately. And we =could= use them as “major tranqs” because they will work. But will you like the sfx?)

Before I will mess with my own neuroplasticity, I will dig into the sfx profile. And psil has a lengthy one.

anon40453850 · August 12, 2015, 9:28pm

Okay, is no one going to talk about the fact that all these articles make certain that they tell you that “nutt” was “sacked” I mean, that is just fantastic.

anon74700328 · August 12, 2015, 9:54pm

It’s not like I’m going to take shrooms.

anon79999497 · August 12, 2015, 10:39pm

He was sacked for challenging government drug policy rather than necessarily for incompetence. http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/oct/30/david-nutt-drugs-adviser-sacked

anon40453850 · August 12, 2015, 10:41pm

Has no one on this forum heard the term nutsack? Is this a foreign concept?

anon74700328 · August 12, 2015, 10:50pm

I followed it @samples32 didn’t want to get between you and moses