Psychedelics for Brain Injury: A Mini-Review
This review (2021) explores the latest studies that use psychedelic therapeutics to treat (traumatic) brain injury (TBI). It proposed that psychedelic pharmacotherapies may fundamentally alter the future of brain injury treatment via modulation of neuroinflammation, neuroplasticity, hippocampal neurogenesis, and brain complexity. The review concludes that further phase II trials could shed more light on the mechanisms of these promising drugs and how they could treat brain injury, especially TBI and reperfusion injury from stroke.
Authors
- Khan, S. I.
- Carter, G. T.
- Aggarwal, S. K.
Published
Abstract
Objective
Stroke and traumatic brain injury (TBI) are among the leading causes of disability. Even after engaging in rehabilitation, nearly half of patients with severe TBI requiring hospitalization are left with major disability. Despite decades of investigation, pharmacologic treatment of brain injury is still a field in its infancy. Recent clinical trials have begun into the use of psychedelic therapeutics for treatment of brain injury. This brief review aims to summarize the current state of the science’s relevance to neurorehabilitation, and may act as a resource for those seeking to understand the precedence for these ongoing clinical trials.
Methods
Narrative mini-review of studies published related to psychedelic therapeutics and brain injuryResults: Recent in vitro, in vivo, and case report studies suggest psychedelic pharmacotherapies may influence the future of brain injury treatment through modulation of neuroinflammation, hippocampal neurogenesis, neuroplasticity, and brain complexity.
Conclusions
Historical data on the safety of some of these substances could serve in effect as phase 0 and phase I studies. Further phase II trials will illuminate how these drugs may treat brain injury, particularly TBI and reperfusion injury from stroke.
Research Summary of 'Psychedelics for Brain Injury: A Mini-Review'
Introduction
Khan and colleagues place this mini-review in the context of a renewed scientific interest in classical psychedelics — compounds such as mescaline, LSD, psilocybin and DMT — whose hallmark effects on perception and consciousness are thought to be mediated largely by activation of 5-HT2A serotonin receptors. The authors note that, after decades of limited research because of social and regulatory stigma, methodological advances and regulatory shifts have reopened investigation into therapeutic uses of these agents, including early-stage clinical activity proposed for disorders of consciousness and stroke. This review aims to summarise preclinical and emerging clinical evidence relevant to neurorehabilitation after stroke and traumatic brain injury (TBI), emphasising purported neuroregenerative and neuroprotective mechanisms — neuroinflammation modulation, hippocampal neurogenesis, neuroplasticity and changes in brain complexity — and to act as a resource for those following planned and ongoing trials in this area. The authors adopt a concise narrative format to highlight biological rationale and precedence rather than to perform a systematic synthesis of effect sizes.
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Study Details
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- APA Citation
Khan, M., Carter, G. T., Aggarwal, S. K., & Holland, J. (2021). Psychedelics for Brain Injury: A Mini-Review. Frontiers in Neurology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2021.685085
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Papers in Blossom that reference this study
Blest-Hopley, G., Pasculli, G., Ruffell, S. G. D. et al. · Frontiers in Psychiatry (2025)
Calnan, M., Blest-Hopley, G., Busch, C. et al. · Brain and Behavior (2025)
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