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Researchers LSD for better treatment of anxiety disorders?
LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) is mainly known as a hallucinogenic drug, but it also has a therapeutic potential that should not be underestimated, for example in the treatment of anxiety disorders or depression. In a recent study, scientists from the University of Basel were able to show how LSD eliminates negative emotions in the brain.
Researchers at the University of Basel found in their research that LSD reduces the activity of a brain region that is central to the processing of negative emotions such as anxiety. This could also be of importance for the treatment of mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety disorders, according to the University. The study results were published by the research team headed by Professor Stefan Borgwardt in the journal "Translational Psychiatry".
The consensus of LSD leads to changes in the brain that could be used for therapeutic purposes. (Image: designer491 / fotolia.com) Research on medical LSD application
Due to its hallucinogenic effects, LSD was used primarily as an intoxicant in the past, although quite promising therapeutic applications were discussed shortly after the discovery by the Basel chemist Albert Hofmann in the 1940s. Especially in psychiatry physicians hoped for positive effects, for example in diseases such as depression or alcohol dependence. But with the global ban in the 1960s, medical research largely came to a standstill, according to the Communication of the University of Basel.
Acute effect of LSD on the brain studied
According to Prof. Borgwardt and colleagues, the effects of hallucinogens on the psyche are extremely diverse and, among other things, the perception, the time experience, the thinking and the emotional experience change. For some years, the interest in the research of hallucinogens for medical purposes has awakened again. Now scientists from the University Psychiatric Hospitals (UPK) and the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University Hospital Basel (USB) have investigated the acute effects of LSD on the brain in their current study to create the basis for therapeutic applications.
Brain activity detected by functional magnetic resonance imaging
"Psychoactive substances such as LSD could offer an alternative to conventional medicines, especially in combination with psychotherapies," according to the researchers. It is already known that hallucinogens bind to a receptor of the neurotransmitter serotonin. But so far it has remained unclear how the changes in consciousness affect the activity and connectivity of the brain. To verify this, the researchers determined the brain activity of twenty healthy individuals after receiving 100 micrograms of LSD using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). During the MRI scan subjects were shown images of faces depicting various moods such as anger, joy or anxiety, the university reports.
LSD inhibits activity in certain brain regions
In their research, the researchers found that the representation of anxiety under the influence of LSD resulted in significantly lower activity of the amygdala, a brain region believed to be central to the processing of emotions. This observation may explain some of the changes in emotional experience that occur after taking hallucinogens, report Prof. Borgwardt and colleagues. In a second step, the researchers together with clinical pharmacologists from the University Hospital of Basel examined whether the subjective experience changed by LSD is related to the Amgydala. This seems to be the case, because the lower the LSD-induced amygdala activity of a person was, the higher was the subject's subjective drug effect, the researchers report.
First author Dr. According to Felix Müller, the observed "frightening" effect of LSD may be an important factor for positive therapeutic effects. It is also to be assumed that hallucinogens cause numerous further changes in brain activity, and further studies are needed to investigate their therapeutic potential, the researchers concluded. (Fp)