Year: 2022
Type: preprint
Abstract: Psychedelics lead to profound changes in subjective experience and behaviour, which are typically conceptualised in psychological terms rather than corresponding to an altered brain state or a distinct state of arousal. Here, we performed chronic electrophysiological recordings from the cortex concomitant with pupillometry in freely moving adult male mice following an injection of a short-acting psychedelic 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT). We observed an acute induction of a dissociated state of arousal, characterised by prominent sleep-like slow waves in the cortex and marked pupil dilation in behaviourally awake, moving animals. REM sleep was markedly suppressed, similar to the effect of conventional antidepressants. We argue that the occurrence of a dissociated brain state combining features of waking and sleep may fundamentally underpin the known and hypothesised effects of psychedelics — from dream-like hallucinations to reopening of the critical period for plasticity.
Authors: Benjamin J B Bréant, José Prius Mengual, Anna Hoerder-Suabedissen, Jasmin Patel, David M Bannerman, Trevor Sharp, Vladyslav V Vyazovskiy
Institution: University of Oxford
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute (SCNi), G2379693843, G3061535701, The melanopsin signalling pathway in ocular, circadian and sleep physiology: mechanisms to clinical application., G5060116330, G5993129374, Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute (SCNi), G6569275014, G6689062412, The Oxford Interdisciplinary Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership, Local sleep homeostasis and single cell rest, The melanopsin signalling pathway in ocular, circadian and sleep physiology: mechanisms to clinical application.
OpenAlex ID: W4311112540