ArticleFrontiers in neuroscience2026
Acute psilocin increased cortical activity in rat.
Article in Frontiers in neuroscience, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Multilevel Mechanisms and Clinical Efficacy of Psilocybin in Depression Treatment: A Systematic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Pooled it
- The Use of Psychedelics in the Treatment of Adult ADHD: A Systematic and Mechanistic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Pooled it
- Serotonergic psychedelics induce distinct patterns of metabolic activity and covariance within biologically informed rat brain networks.Nature communications · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Psilocin, a naturally occurring hallucinogenic component of magic mushrooms, exerts notable psychoactive effects in both humans and rodents. However, the underlying mechanisms remain not fully understood. Blood-oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a valuable tool in many preclinical and clinical trials for investigating changes of brain activity and functional connectivity (FC) due to its noninvasive nature and widespread availability. However, fMRI effects of psilocin on rats have not been thoroughly explored. This study aimed to explore the impact of psilocin on rats' brain activity by combining BOLD fMRI and immunofluorescence (IF) of EGR1, an immediate early gene (IEG) closely related to depressive symptoms. Ten minutes after psilocin hydrochloride injection (2.0 mg/kg, i.p.), elevated brain activity was detected in the frontal, temporal, and parietal cortex (including the cingulate cortex and retrosplenial cortex), hippocampus, and striatum. Moreover, a region-of-interest (ROI) -wise FC analysis matrix indicated enhanced interconnectivity of several regions, such as the cingulate cortex, dorsal striatum, prelimbic, and limbic regions. Further seed-based analyses revealed increased FC of cingulate cortex with the cortical and striatal areas. In addition to the fMRI observations, acute psilocin led to an increase in the EGR1 level in most cortical and striatal regions, indicating a consistent activation throughout the cortical and striatal areas. In conclusion, the psilocin-induced hyperactive state in rats is congruent to that in humans, and the increased brain activity, enhanced functional connectivity and up-regulation of EGR1 may be responsible for its pharmacological effects.
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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.