- Rats given psilocybin had reduced pain sensitivity for weeks after treatment
- Chronic pain can reshape connections in the brain, and so can psilocybin
- Two of the study authors work for a company aiming to sell painkillers.
- Read more: Can magic mushrooms really cure depression? The jury is still out
Injecting psilocybin, the main ingredient in so-called “magic mushrooms,” may provide permanent relief from chronic pain, according to a new study.
A team of scientists from the University of Michigan found that mice Animals given the psychedelic drug had significantly reduced pain sensitivity over several weeks compared to animals not given the drug.
These results suggest that the drug alters pathways in the brain, the study authors wrote.
Scientists believe that many chronic pain conditions are the result of changes in the brain and spinal cord, not just the painful body part.
Psilocybin may alter these pathways in addition to treating pain symptoms.
In a new study, rats were injected with small amounts of formaldehyde into their paws to simulate chronic pain.
Such injections can cause sensitivity for a month or more, even in the uninjected leg.
So while this pain is not the same as that experienced by people with back injuries or other chronic pain, it is one way scientists study long-term pain.
The experimental animals were then given either a low-dose psilocybin injection, a high-dose injection, or an injection of harmless saline (a placebo to confirm that the drug was responsible for the observed effects).
The low-dose group received 1 mg per kg of body weight, which corresponds to a microdose, while the high-dose group received 10 mg per kg, which corresponds to a hallucinogen.
Over the next month, the scientists periodically exposed them to either unpleasant foot stings or hot plates under their feet, and recorded how long it took them to show discomfort. .
Compared to the pain responses of rats recorded before injection, high- and low-dose psilocybin rats were much less sensitive to foot stings.
On some days, high-dose rats were less sensitive than low-dose rats, but the overall effects were similar.
The heat was another story.
Psilocybin rats did not significantly improve thermal sensitivity compared to untreated rats.
This may be because psilocybin is ineffective for this type of pain.
The study authors wrote that the hot plate was extremely hot (126.5 degrees Fahrenheit or 52.5 degrees Celsius), which may have also been to blame, exceeding the pain relief provided by the drug.
Importantly, rats that were not injected with formaldehyde showed no difference in pain sensitivity after taking psilocybin, indicating that the drug was particularly effective in rats experiencing chronic pain. It suggests.
The results were published in today's magazine current biologya growing body of scientific research is providing insight into the healing potential of psilocybin.
Studies have shown that this drug is somewhat effective in treating depression and can help people quit drinking and smoking if other methods have not worked.
However, the only evidence is anecdotal for many of the reported benefits, such as pain relief.
So this new study is part of a growing scientific effort to catalog and track what mushrooms can and cannot do.
As with many studies on psilocybin, the results of this study were mixed, with the drug having an effect on only one type of pain sensitivity.
The researchers noted some limitations to their results.
For example, these experiments looked at inflammation, so future studies should evaluate other types of pain, such as neuralgia.
This study was not set up to explain exactly how and why psilocybin treats pain. Therefore, it is unclear whether psilocybin's psychedelic properties are responsible for these effects, or whether perhaps psilocybin did something else in the rats' bodies that reduced their sensitivity to pain.
However, more research is needed before people's pain can be treated with psilocybin.
Additionally, two of the seven scientists involved in this study work at Tryp Therapeutics. The San Diego, California-based company is investigating psilocybin as a treatment for multiple pain conditions, not just bulimia.
In other words, some of the scientists working on this research have a financial interest in positive findings. Tryp's stock price has remained below $0.12 per share all year.
This does not mean that the results are unreliable.
But good scientific practice says that if a treatment works, other labs should be able to reproduce the results, including those without financial incentives.
