Depressive Disorders5-MeO-DMT

A Single Dose of 5-MeO-DMT Stimulates Cell Proliferation, Neuronal Survivability, Morphological and Functional Changes in Adult Mice Ventral Dentate Gyrus

This mouse study (n=220) investigated the effects of 5-MEO-DMT (100 μg) on neuronal growth in the hippocampus of mice and found that a single dose increased the proliferation of neural progenitors, accelerated the maturation of newborn granule cells, and increased the complexity of the dendritic morphology.

Authors

  • Lima da Cruz, R. V.
  • Moulin, T. C.
  • Petiz, L. L.

Published

Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
individual Study

Abstract

Introduction

The subgranular zone (SGZ) of dentate gyrus (DG) is one of the few regions in which neurogenesis is maintained throughout adulthood. It is believed that newborn neurons in this region encode temporal information about partially overlapping contextual memories. The 5-Methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) is a naturally occurring compound capable of inducing a powerful psychedelic state. Recently, it has been suggested that DMT analogs may be used in the treatment of mood disorders. Due to the strong link between altered neurogenesis and mood disorders, we tested whether 5-MeO-DMT is capable of increasing DG cell proliferation.Methods/Results: We show that a single intracerebroventricular (ICV) injection of 5-MeO-DMT increases the number of Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU+) cells in adult mice DG. Moreover, using a transgenic animal expressing tamoxifen-dependent Cre recombinase under doublecortin promoter, we found that 5 Meo-DMT treated mice had a higher number of newborn DG Granule cells (GC). We also showed that these DG GC have more complex dendritic morphology after 5-MeO-DMT. Lastly, newborn GC treated with 5-MeO-DMT, display shorter afterhyperpolarization (AHP) potentials and higher action potential (AP) threshold compared.

Discussion

Our findings show that 5-MeO-DMT affects neurogenesis and this effect may contribute to the known antidepressant properties of DMT-derived compounds.

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Research Summary of 'A Single Dose of 5-MeO-DMT Stimulates Cell Proliferation, Neuronal Survivability, Morphological and Functional Changes in Adult Mice Ventral Dentate Gyrus'

Introduction

Psychoactive tryptamines such as N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and its methoxy analogue 5-MeO-DMT act on serotonergic receptors and are present in several South American plants and traditional preparations such as ayahuasca. Previous work links altered adult hippocampal neurogenesis to mood disorders and to the action of some antidepressant treatments, and in vitro evidence suggests that certain alkaloids present in ayahuasca can stimulate neurogenesis. However, whether in vivo adult neurogenesis is affected by psychoactive tryptamines—and specifically by 5-MeO-DMT—remains unclear. Huang and colleagues set out to test whether a single intracerebroventricular (ICV) dose of 5-MeO-DMT alters dentate gyrus (DG) neurogenesis in adult mice. The study assessed cell proliferation using BrdU labelling, quantified newborn neurons with an inducible DCX-driven fluorescent reporter line, examined clustering of proliferating cells, and evaluated electrophysiological and dendritic-morphological maturation of newborn granule cells to determine whether 5-MeO-DMT affects proliferation, survivability and maturation of DG neurons.

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Study Details

  • Study Type
    individual
  • Journal
  • Compound
  • Topic
  • APA Citation

    Lima da Cruz, R. V., Moulin, T. C., Petiz, L. L., & Leão, R. N. (2018). A Single Dose of 5-MeO-DMT Stimulates Cell Proliferation, Neuronal Survivability, Morphological and Functional Changes in Adult Mice Ventral Dentate Gyrus. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnmol.2018.00312

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