Psychedelics Research Links July 2020

This is all the other psychedelic research that came out in July 2020. These papers don’t (yet) have their own page in our database.

Find our recap of the most interesting papers this month in our July Recap.

You can find all interesting papers in our Papers Database.

Related papers

Use CTRL/CMD+F to quickly search if anything relevant for you has been published this month.

• Self-inflicted Neck Wounds Under Influence of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide: A Case Report and Literature Review (case report on LSD death)

• In Vitro Structure-Activity Relationship Determination of 30 Psychedelic New Psychoactive Substances by Means of β-arrestin 2 Recruitment to the Serotonin 2A Receptor (study on ‘in the glass’ effects of 30 new psychoactive substance)

• Active Metabolite of Aeruginascin (4-Hydroxy-N,N,N-trimethyltryptamine): Synthesis, Structure, and Serotonergic Binding Affinity (Aeruginascin has  a high affinity at human serotonin receptors 5-HT1A, 5-HT2A, and 5-HT2B, though it does not bind at the 5-HT3 receptor (what was expected))

• Synthesis and characterization of high-purity N,N-dimethyltryptamine hemifumarate for human clinical trials (a slightly updated way to make DMT)

• Immunochemical monitoring of psilocybin and psilocin to identify hallucinogenic mushrooms (synthesis of two antibodies for monitoring/identifying psilocybin/psilocin containing mushrooms)

• Psilocybin and LSD in the Treatment of Depression and Anxiety (thesis)

• The Therapeutic Potential of Psilocybin and 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine in the Treatment of Depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (thesis)

• Perceived harm, motivations for use and subjective experiences of recreational psychedelic ‘magic’ mushroom use (different perspective from (non) users, but all rated relatively safe)

• Management of overdoses of salvia, kratom, and psilocybin mushrooms: a literature review (review, but the conclusion seems very conservative/negative – or could be interpreted as; we didn’t find negative outcomes, but do stay alert)

• MDMA-related presentations to the emergency departments of the European Drug Emergencies Network plus (Euro-DEN Plus) over the four-year period 2014–2017 (MDMA statistics about emergency room visits)

• Diffusion of Ecstasy in the Electronic Dance Music Scene (more stats about MDMA, 43% used first time unplanned)

• CytoSorb removes MDMA in vitro, but is it an effective therapy in vivo? (Didn’t seem to work effectively, but only one case report)

• Modulation of inhibitory control networks relate to clinical response following ketamine therapy in major depression (“Results suggest that ketamine treatment leads to neurofunctional plasticity in executive control networks including the SMA during a response-inhibitory task“)

• Intranasal esketamine: A novel drug for treatment-resistant depression (positive review of intranasal esketamine)

• Functional dysconnectivity of frontal cortex to striatum predicts ketamine infusion response in treatment-resistant depression (“Reduced connectivity of the superior frontal cortex to the striatum predicted the response to ketamine infusion among patients with TRD“)

• Sustained Improvement of Negative Self-Schema After a Single Ketamine Infusion: An Open-Label Study (“These results suggest an important therapeutic effect of ketamine on negative self-schema, which is a fundamental cognitive aspect of depression“)

• Alterations of multiple peripheral inflammatory cytokine levels after repeated ketamine infusions in major depressive disorder (“Our results suggest that the inflammatory pathway may be involved in the antidepressant effects of ketamine, which may be conducive to future treatment strategy optimization“)

• Esketamine: new hope for the treatment of treatment-resistant depression? A narrative review (cautiously positive review of esketamine)

• Long-term outcome in outpatients with depression treated with acute and maintenance intravenous ketamine: A retrospective chart review (Small effect on depression scores (effective for 18%?), but about half of the patients did continue maintenance treatment)

• Microdosing as a response to the meaning crisis: a qualitative analysis (Asking people about their placebo effects?)

• Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy for depression: How dire is the need? How could we do it? (Review of (the need for) psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy)

• 5-HT2A mediated plasticity as a target in major depression: a narrative review connecting the dots from neurobiology to cognition and psychology

• Psychedelic Research and the Need for Transparency: Polishing Alice’s Looking Glass (perspective article on Open Science and preventing a replication crisis)

• Investigation of Ayahuasca β-Carboline Alkaloids and Tryptamine in Sweat Samples from Religious Community Participants by GC-MS (measuring active components of Ayahuasca via sweat samples seems viable)