We were trying to confirm the precens of DMT in the brain and in particularly in serotonin neurons. But to our surprice, DMT is neither in the brain or taken up by serotonin nerve terminals! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is neither formed nor retained in serotonin terminals in the rat brain

Mammalian brain may contain an endogenous pool of the psychedelic substance N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), which may act as a co-transmitter with serot…

sciencedirect.com

Was interviewed by Double Blind Magazine about the mushrooms extend lifespan hype. They wrote a delightful piece about how much mushroom was given. To quote them "That’s a fuckton of mushrooms for 95% of people". I wonder about how the last 5% are doing? doubleblindmag.com/was-the-life...

Was the Life-Extending Psilocybin Study All Hype?

One academic says yes. PLUS an interview with an Onanya, AI generated DMT visuals, and psilocybin's impact on shame.

doubleblindmag.com

Psilocybin as an longevity drug? Not really! I wrote a piece in @theconversation.com about why this claim is way out of proportions. theconversation.com/why-the-magi...

Why the magic mushroom anti-ageing claims are overblown

The magic mushroom longevity study that’s too good to be true.

theconversation.com

What shifts in our brain when our consciousness shifts? On Sept 8-9, we will explore this question at ESI-SyNC 2025 - with exciting talks, posters and discussions on the neural dynamics of altered consciousness, from psychedelics to breathwork, near-death experiences and meditation. (1/2)

We worked so well as a team for the #GRCPsychedelics @vyazovskiy.bsky.social @viditavaidya.bsky.social @melissaherman.bsky.social and congrats to @theborislab.bsky.social and @mikaelpalner.bsky.social, who will be the future vice-chairs!

Science together climb together - sneaked out with fellow #GRCPsychedelics attendees for a quick session 💪

One more clip from my interview with @mikaelpalner.bsky.social. In this one, he outlines a neurological definition for a psychedelic "microdose" according to binding occupancy at the serotonin receptor. And, of course, what that means. youtu.be/gG3JmDo_liU

A neural level definition of psychedelic microdosing, with Dr. Mikael Palner

YouTube video by Adventures Through The Mind

youtu.be

Microdosing research is being polluted by a lack of specificity, says Dr. @mikaelpalner.bsky.social youtu.be/0MZy1eLQUxY

Modern Microdosing Science has a Problem; All Psychedelics Aren't Created Equal - Dr. Mikael Palner

YouTube video by Adventures Through The Mind

youtu.be

I love my new office hallway mates, DEI 💪

@mikaelpalner.bsky.social and I debate the value of removing the psychedelic effect from psychedelic drugs. youtu.be/Qokk8MGkeHY

Debating the value of removing the psychedelic effect from psychedelic medicine, Dr. Mikael Palner

YouTube video by Adventures Through The Mind

youtu.be

"The very fact that I am having to publish this anonymously in a country that has the right to free speech written into our Constitution is an indictment of what is happening." www.bmj.com/content/388/...

Anger, despair, and defiance from a voice within the US federal research system

People around the world are watching with disbelief as the new US government closes down its aid programme, withdraws from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Paris agreement on climate change...

bmj.com

Visited @jameswjesso.bsky.social **Adventures Through The Mind** podcast to talk about microdosing, psilocybin and translation of psychedelic science from rats to humans. #microdosing #psilocybin

I talk with Dr. Mikael Palner from Southern Denmark University about his research on the effects of chronic low dose (microdose) psilocybin on stress resiliency and compulsive behaviours. www.jameswjesso.com/microdosing-... #psychedelics #microdosing #psychedelicscience

Microdosing Psilocybin; Effects on Stress Resiliency and Compulsive Behaviours | Dr. Mikael Palner ~ ATTMind 194

Dr. Mikael Palner discusses his research on the effects of microdosing psilocybin on stress resiliency and compulsions.

jameswjesso.com

Really feeling the #wcbr, if you are around join us for the panel on micodosing tomorrow afternoon. New research will be presented 🏂🏻

@lizs1.bsky.social I'm happy to comment, I did a scientific study above on microdosing psilocybin in rat. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Repeated low doses of psilocybin increase resilience to stress, lower compulsive actions, and strengthen cortical connections to the paraventricular thalamic nucleus in rats - Molecular Psychiatry

Molecular Psychiatry - Repeated low doses of psilocybin increase resilience to stress, lower compulsive actions, and strengthen cortical connections to the paraventricular thalamic nucleus in rats

nature.com

With president Trump hitting hard on science in the US, I want to let all my fellow US researchers know that Danish foundation provides quite a lot of postdoctoral and sabattical funding for visiting US citizens. Reach out if you want to know more or collaborate while this goes down.

Are you thinking of measuring synaptic plasticity in the living rat brain? Maybe after psychedelic-induced neuroplasticity, as David E Olson suggests in his recent commentary in the American Journal of Psychiatry Check out our SV2A images using [18F]SynVest-1 #psychedelic #neuroplasticity #invivo

This is a great review of novel measurements of functional connectivity. But how would you explain "structurally informed functional connectivity" to a lay person? Give me your best shot 😀 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Structurally informed models of directed brain connectivity - Nature Reviews Neuroscience

The influence anatomy exerts on communication between brain regions remains unclear. In this Review, Greaves et al. synthesize how methods of structural connectivity integration constrain inference-ba...

nature.com

A #ScienceReview from last year highlights the growing recognition of the complex cognitive capacities of #rats and its implications for how they are treated in scientific contexts.

The complex affective and cognitive capacities of rats

For several decades, although studies of rat physiology and behavior have abounded, research on rat emotions has been limited in scope to fear, anxiety, and pain. Converging evidence for the capacity of many species to share others' affective states has...

scim.ag

Do serotonergic psychedelics (like LSD, psilocybin, and 2C-B) all induce the same acute changes in brain activity? Our research in rats says they have some common features but also some distinctly different ones. The images below are from our newest preprint.

Klemens Egger analyzed the effects of pharmahuasca on whole-brain metabolism in rats. Interestingly, while the combination of harmine and DMT increased the levels of DMT in the brain significantly, we could measure 5-HT2A occupancy. Additionally, all conditions increased thalamic activity. #dmt

Last year, we used 5-HT2A PET (see my previous post) to establish science-backed psilocybin microdosing in rats based on human occupancy data from Madsen et al. (2019). We proved that microdosing of psilocybin induces behavioral and neurobiological changes in rats! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Moving to a new lab is fantastic. 🐀 Reconnecting the cables, installing the machines and taking photos through a plastic bag is challenging 🤔

In 2008, Matthias Herth produced [18F]MHMZ, a PET tracer I love. My lab uses it extensively to map the 5-HT2A receptors in living rat brain and measure occupancy of psychedelics, like psilocybin below. Don't tell me 1mg/kg is not enough ;)

How will the world look in 25 years if my research turns out to be a breakthrough? That question was posed to me by Third Ear Studio and Denis Rivin 🔹🔺🔸. In their latest series "2049". We're talking about mental illnesses and psychedelic substances. thirdear.studio/da/pods/2049