Complex slow waves in the human brain under 5-MeO-DMT
This naturalistic EEG study (n=29) examines the effects of inhaled synthetic 5-MeO-DMT (12mg) on brain activity in healthy individuals. It finds that 5-MeO-DMT radically reorganises low-frequency neural activity flows, making them incoherent, heterogeneous, and nonrecurring. It also causes broadband activity to exhibit slower, more stable, low-dimensional behaviour with increased energy barriers to rapid global shifts.
Authors
- Pedro Mediano
- Sunjeev Kamboj
Published
Abstract
5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) is a psychedelic drug known for its uniquely profound effects on consciousness; however, it remains unknown how it affects the brain. We collected electroencephalography (EEG) data of 29 healthy individuals before and after inhaling a high dose (12-mg) of vaporized synthetic 5-MeO-DMT. We replicate results from rodents showing amplified low-frequency oscillations but extend these findings by characterizing the complex organization of spatiotemporal fields of neural activity. We find that 5-MeO-DMT radically reorganizes low-frequency flows, causing them to become heterogeneous, viscous, and nonrecurring and to cease their travel forward and backward across the cortex. Further, we find a consequence of this reorganization in broadband activity, which exhibits more stable low-dimensional behavior with increased energy barriers for rapid global shifts. These findings provide a detailed empirical account of how 5-MeO-DMT sculpts human brain dynamics, revealing a set of atypical cortical slow-wave behaviors with significant implications for neuroscientific models of serotonergic psychedelics.
Research Summary of 'Complex slow waves in the human brain under 5-MeO-DMT'
Introduction
5-Methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) is among the most potent and rapidly acting psychedelic compounds known, with a history of ritual use dating back over 1,000 years and increasing involvement in contemporary clinical trials for depression, bipolar disorder, and alcohol use disorder. Its subjective effects — characterised by a radical dissolution of the axes of time, space, and selfhood — are qualitatively distinct from those of DMT or psilocybin, which typically involve richly structured geometric visual experiences. At the peak of the 5-MeO-DMT experience, users report entering an ineffable state in which even the awareness of being a subject is suspended, suggesting a global deconstruction rather than reduction of consciousness. Despite this phenomenological distinctiveness and growing clinical relevance, 5-MeO-DMT had not been studied using human neuroscience methods at the time of this investigation. The researchers aimed to characterise the electroencephalographic (EEG) signatures of the acute 5-MeO-DMT brain state, with particular interest in distinguishing it from states of unconsciousness and examining how spatiotemporal neural dynamics relate to the compound's unique subjective effects.
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Study Details
- Study Typeindividual
- Journal
- Compound
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- APA Citation
Blackburne, G., McAlpine, R. G., Fabus, M., Liardi, A., Kamboj, S. K., Mediano, P. A., & Skipper, J. I. (2025). Complex slow waves in the human brain under 5-MeO-DMT. Cell Reports, 44(8), 116040. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2025.116040
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