ArticleCell reports2018
Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity.
Article in Cell reports, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 597 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Mood Effects of Serotonin Agonists: Depression
The Therapeutic Potential of Psilocybin in Anorexia Nervosa in Young Adults
Who cites it
597 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 1,094 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness of ketamine-assisted psychotherapy as a treatment for treatment-resistant depression: a systematic review.Psychopharmacology · 2026Pooled it
- The Use of Psychedelics in the Treatment of Adult ADHD: A Systematic and Mechanistic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Pooled it
- Therapeutic Use of Psilocybin in Depression: a Systematic Review of Clinical Evidence.Acta neuropsychiatrica · 2025Pooled it
- Catalyst for change: Psilocybin's antidepressant mechanisms-A systematic review.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2025Pooled it
- Reconsidering evidence for psychedelic-induced psychosis: an overview of reviews, a systematic review, and meta-analysis of human studies.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Impact of Psilocybin on Motor Function in Healthy Participants: A Phase 1, Randomised, Triple-Blind, Dose-Finding Study.CNS drugs · 2026Trial
- Neuroplastic white matter changes in patients with major depression following lysergic acid diethylamide treatment.Cell reports. Medicine · 2026Trial
- A short-acting psychedelic intervention for major depressive disorder: a phase IIa randomized placebo-controlled trial.Nature medicine · 2026Trial
- Psilocybin therapy for mood dysfunction in Parkinson's disease: an open-label pilot trial.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025Trial
- Safety, Pharmacokinetics, and Pharmacodynamics of a 6-h N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) Infusion in Healthy Volunteers: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.Clinical and translational science · 2025Trial
- Large-scale brain connectivity changes following the administration of lysergic acid diethylamide, d-amphetamine, and 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Trial
- Reconstituting a two-step pathway forMetabolic engineering communications · 2026Article
- Novel approaches in depression treatment: from rapid-acting antidepressants to personalized interventions.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- Ayahuasca Impairs Fear Memory Reconsolidation and Promotes Rapid Structural Plasticity in the Hippocampus and Prelimbic Cortex.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Article
- Studying the Molecule, Assuming the Experience: The Pharmacology-Experience Asymmetry Framework for Psychedelic Research.ACS pharmacology & translational science · 2026Article
- Psychedelics and disorders of consciousness: a new frontier in neurotherapeutics.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- Review
- Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy: Emerging paradigm.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2026Review
- Deconstruction of lysergic acid diethylamide.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Prior trauma shapes the effects of psilocybin on stress sensitization in mice.Neuroscience letters · 2026Article
537 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
16 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Atrophy of neurons in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a key role in the pathophysiology of depression and related disorders. The ability to promote both structural and functional plasticity in the PFC has been hypothesized to underlie the fast-acting antidepressant properties of the dissociative anesthetic ketamine. Here, we report that, like ketamine, serotonergic psychedelics are capable of robustly increasing neuritogenesis and/or spinogenesis both in vitro and in vivo. These changes in neuronal structure are accompanied by increased synapse number and function, as measured by fluorescence microscopy and electrophysiology. The structural changes induced by psychedelics appear to result from stimulation of the TrkB, mTOR, and 5-HT2A signaling pathways and could possibly explain the clinical effectiveness of these compounds. Our results underscore the therapeutic potential of psychedelics and, importantly, identify several lead scaffolds for medicinal chemistry efforts focused on developing plasticity-promoting compounds as safe, effective, and fast-acting treatments for depression and related disorders.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.