Effects of psychedelics on markers of neuroplasticity in humans

Abstract

A growing number of studies suggest that serotonergic psychedelics, including lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), can rapidly and lastingly stimulate various aspects of neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is the nervous system’s fundamental ability to reorganize itself in order to adapt to its environment, and it involves both changes in brain structure and changes in how the brain functions. It is also fundamental for learning in the broadest sense. Drugs which stimulate neuroplasticity may have important clinical uses, and promising data from animal studies has given psychedelics the moniker of psychoplastogens for their rapid, circuit-specific, and lasting effects on neuroplasticity. However, data in humans is scarcer due to the relative difficulty of measuring neuroplasticity non-invasively. It remains unclear how psychedelics impact neuroplasticity in humans and, if they do, what this might mean. The aim of this thesis is to investigate whether psychedelics, and particularly the potent psychoplastogen LSD, can stimulate neuroplasticity in humans. It consists of three papers exploring this question from different angles.