Therapeutic psychedelics in mental health

Psychedelics have recently re-emerged as promising therapeutics for several neuropsychiatric disorders. Clinical studies have confirmed the efficacy of ketamine for the treatment of depression and suggest potential therapeutic properties of psilocybin, a naturally occurring psychedelic prodrug produced by more than 200 fungi.

While psychedelics could transform the landscape of treatments for many disorders, this field of research is still in its infancy. One of the main problems at the heart of modern psychedelic clinical research is that participants might easily be able to tell whether they have been given a placebo as compared to receiving hallucinogenic compounds.

In this regard, preclinical studies harbor several advantages including the possibility to conduct well-controlled experiments as well as using innovative tools to better understand the biological mechanisms mediating the behavioural effects. However, only a few studies have examined the effects of psilocybin in rodent disease models.