EEG Gamma Band Alterations and REM-like Traits Underpin the Acute Effect of the Atypical Psychedelic Ibogaine in the Rat

Introduction

Ibogaine is an atypical psychedelic alkaloid with reported long-lasting antiaddictive effects in humans and robust preclinical evidence in rodents. Subjective reports characterise the ibogaine experience as an intense, dream-like episode while awake, involving memory retrieval and imagination but lacking many of the identity and perceptual distortions typical of classical psychedelics; accordingly, ibogaine is often called oneirogenic. The authors note a hypothesised link between these oneiric experiences and REM sleep, since vivid dreaming predominates during REM and REM-related neural processes (for example, plasticity and memory reconsolidation) could plausibly contribute to antiaddictive effects. González and colleagues set out to test whether the electrocortical activity induced acutely by ibogaine in rats shows features of REM sleep. Building on their prior observation that ibogaine increases wakefulness while suppressing NREM and REM sleep, the investigators applied a computational analysis of intracranial electroencephalogram (iEEG) recordings to characterise spectral power, inter-regional synchronization, temporal complexity, cross-frequency coupling, and state classification during the acute post‑administration period. The aim was to determine whether the ibogaine-induced waking state exhibits REM-like electrophysiological traits, with a focus on gamma‑band activity.