Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23785166›Full record

Trial reportThe Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience2013

Activation of serotonin 2A receptors underlies the psilocybin-induced effects on α oscillations, N170 visual-evoked potentials, and visual hallucinations.

Michael Kometer, André Schmidt, Lutz Jäncke, Franz X Vollenweider

Open access · bronzeAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 177 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
177citing papers in PubMed, 8 pooled it
16.4field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

177 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 345 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Impact of psilocybin on cognitive function: A systematic review.Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2024
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  9. Acute and post-acute neurobehavioral responses to lysergic acid diethylamide in healthy subjects: a randomized controlled study.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026
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  16. Effective connectivity changes in LSD-induced altered states of consciousness in humans.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2019
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117 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Michael KometerNeuropsychopharmacology and Brain Imaging, Clinic of Affective Disorders and General Psychiatry, University Hospital of Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Zurich 8008, Switzerland. michael.kometer@bli.uzh.ch
André Schmidt
Lutz Jäncke
Franz X Vollenweider
University of Zurich · CHUniversity Hospital of Zurich · CH

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Visual illusions and hallucinations are hallmarks of serotonergic hallucinogen-induced altered states of consciousness. Although the serotonergic hallucinogen psilocybin activates multiple serotonin (5-HT) receptors, recent evidence suggests that activation of 5-HT2A receptors may lead to the formation of visual hallucinations by increasing cortical excitability and altering visual-evoked cortical responses. To address this hypothesis, we assessed the effects of psilocybin (215 μg/kg vs placebo) on both α oscillations that regulate cortical excitability and early visual-evoked P1 and N170 potentials in healthy human subjects. To further disentangle the specific contributions of 5-HT2A receptors, subjects were additionally pretreated with the preferential 5-HT2A receptor antagonist ketanserin (50 mg vs placebo). We found that psilocybin strongly decreased prestimulus parieto-occipital α power values, thus precluding a subsequent stimulus-induced α power decrease. Furthermore, psilocybin strongly decreased N170 potentials associated with the appearance of visual perceptual alterations, including visual hallucinations. All of these effects were blocked by pretreatment with the 5-HT2A antagonist ketanserin, indicating that activation of 5-HT2A receptors by psilocybin profoundly modulates the neurophysiological and phenomenological indices of visual processing. Specifically, activation of 5-HT2A receptors may induce a processing mode in which stimulus-driven cortical excitation is overwhelmed by spontaneous neuronal excitation through the modulation of α oscillations. Furthermore, the observed reduction of N170 visual-evoked potentials may be a key mechanism underlying 5-HT2A receptor-mediated visual hallucinations. This change in N170 potentials may be important not only for psilocybin-induced states but also for understanding acute hallucinatory states seen in psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease.

Indexed as

AdultAlpha RhythmAnalysis of VarianceConsciousnessData Interpretation, StatisticalDouble-Blind MethodElectroencephalographyEvoked Potentials, VisualFemaleHallucinogensHumansKetanserinMalePhotic StimulationPsilocybinPsychometricsHallucinogensKetanserinPsilocybinReceptor, Serotonin, 5-HT2ASerotonin AntagonistsSerotonin Receptor Agonists

Identifiers

PMID23785166
PMCPMC6618596
OpenAlexW2020974659

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.