Subacute Effects of the Psychedelic Ayahuasca on the Salience and Default Mode Networks
In a randomised placebo-controlled trial, 24 hours after a single ayahuasca session healthy participants showed increased anterior cingulate connectivity within the salience network, reduced posterior cingulate connectivity within the default mode network and strengthened salience–default mode coupling, with no change in primary sensory networks. These subacute network shifts correlated with acute subjective effects (somesthesia, volition and affect), suggesting ayahuasca transiently modulates higher-order interoceptive, affective and self‑referential brain systems.
Authors
- Fernanda Palhano-Fontes
- Draulio Araújo
Published
Abstract
Background
Neuroimaging studies have just begun to explore the acute effects of psychedelics on large-scale brain networks’ functional organization. Even less is known about the neural correlates of subacute effects taking place days after the psychedelic experience. This study explores the subacute changes of primary sensory brain networks and networks supporting higher-order affective and self-referential functions 24 hours after a single session with the psychedelic ayahuasca.
Methods
We leveraged task-free functional magnetic resonance imaging data 1 day before and 1 day after a randomized placebo-controlled trial exploring the effects of ayahuasca in naïve healthy participants (21 placebo/22 ayahuasca). We derived intra- and inter-network functional connectivity of the salience, default mode, visual, and sensorimotor networks, and assessed post-session connectivity changes between the ayahuasca and placebo groups. Connectivity changes were associated with Hallucinogen Rating Scale scores assessed during the acute effects.
Results
Our findings revealed increased anterior cingulate cortex connectivity within the salience network, decreased posterior cingulate cortex connectivity within the default mode network, and increased connectivity between the salience and default mode networks 1 day after the session in the ayahuasca group compared to placebo. Connectivity of primary sensory networks did not differ between groups. Salience network connectivity increases correlated with altered somesthesia scores, decreased default mode network connectivity correlated with altered volition scores, and increased salience default mode network connectivity correlated with altered affect scores.
Conclusion
These findings provide preliminary evidence for subacute functional changes induced by the psychedelic ayahuasca on higher-order cognitive brain networks that support interoceptive, affective, and self-referential functions.
Research Summary of 'Subacute Effects of the Psychedelic Ayahuasca on the Salience and Default Mode Networks'
Introduction
Classic psychedelics produce altered states of consciousness with wide-ranging effects on sensory, cognitive, autonomic, interoceptive, self-referential, and emotional systems. Ayahuasca is a traditional Amazonian admixture containing N,N-dimethyltryptamine (N,N-DMT) and monoamine oxidase inhibitors; N,N-DMT has high affinity for serotonergic and sigma-1 receptors, while the monoamine oxidase inhibitors render it orally active. Recent clinical trials have reported rapid antidepressant effects of ayahuasca, including benefits observed 1 day after a single session, but the neural mechanisms underlying changes in affect, mood, and self-representation remain incompletely understood. Task-free functional MRI (tf-fMRI) can map intrinsic large-scale brain networks such as the salience network (involving the anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula) and the default mode network (involving posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, medial prefrontal cortex), which are implicated in interoception, socioemotional processing, and self-referential thought. Pasquini and colleagues set out to characterise subacute (24-hour) changes in intra- and inter-network functional connectivity after a single ayahuasca session in ayahuasca‑naïve healthy participants, and to relate those changes to subjective measures of the acute psychedelic experience. The primary hypothesis was that 24 hours after dosing ayahuasca would alter higher-order affective and self-referential networks (salience and default mode) but not primary sensory networks. The investigators used a seed-based connectivity approach, complemented by independent component analysis (ICA), to map salience, default mode, visual and sensorimotor networks before and 24 hours after dosing in a randomised placebo-controlled design.
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Study Details
- Study Typeindividual
- Journal
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- APA Citation
Pasquini, L., Palhano-Fontes, F., & Araujo, D. B. (2020). Subacute Effects of the Psychedelic Ayahuasca on the Salience and Default Mode Networks. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 34(6), 623-635. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881120909409
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