The renaissance in psychedelic research: What do preclinical models have to offer

Abstract

Human research with psychedelics is making groundbreaking discoveries. Psychedelics modify enduring elements of personality and seemingly reduce anxiety, depression, and substance dependence in small but well-designed clinical studies. Psychedelics are advancing through pharmaceutical regulatory systems, and neuroimaging studies have related their extraordinary effects to select brain networks. This field is making significant basic science and translational discoveries, yet preclinical studies have lagged this renaissance in human psychedelic research. Preclinical studies have a lot to offer psychedelic research as they afford tight control of experimental parameters, subjects with documented drug histories, and the capacity to elucidate relevant signaling cascades as well as conduct invasive mechanistic studies of neurochemistry and neural circuits. Safety pharmacology, novel biomarkers, and pharmacokinetics can be assessed in disease state models to advance psychedelics toward clinical practice. This chapter documents the current status of psychedelic research, with the thematic argument that new preclinical studies would benefit this field.

Keywords: Alcoholism; Anxiety; Depression; Neuroimaging; Preclinical; Psychedelic; Serotonin; Substance dependence.