Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Med Hypotheses. 2019 Apr;125:21-24. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2019.02.029. Epub 2019 Feb 11.
Psychedelic substances have regained interest as therapeutic agents in the treatment of stress-related disorders. The effects seem to be of persisting nature even after a single dose. Also in lower than 'regular' recreational doses, so-called micro-doses, without the typical effects on consciousness, users report beneficial effects on cognitive processes and well-being. The exact neurobiological mechanism underlying these persisting effects is not clear. While previous research has mainly focused on the central nervous system including the immune system and the neuroendocrine system, I propose a central role for sleep and the microbiome in the effects of regular and low doses of psychedelics respectively. It will be explained why this is hypothesized and studies to test this idea proposed. It is concluded that while these studies are needed to understand the biology underlying psychedelic medicine, it is also important to approach it in a holistic way, including all the above mentioned biological processes psychedelics are known to affect, and explore the role of other substance-related factors like route of administration and form, and factors like diet and lifestyle which are part of the psychedelic experience.
致幻物质作为治疗与压力相关疾病的治疗药物重新受到关注。单次给药后，其效果似乎具有持续性质。即使在低于“常规”娱乐剂量的所谓微剂量下，使用者报告说对认知过程和幸福感有有益的影响，而没有典型的意识影响。这些持续效果的确切神经生物学机制尚不清楚。虽然以前的研究主要集中在中枢神经系统，包括免疫系统和神经内分泌系统，但我分别提出睡眠和微生物组在常规和低剂量致幻剂作用中的核心作用。将解释为什么假设这一点，并提出研究这一想法的建议。结论是，虽然这些研究对于理解致幻药物的生物学基础是必要的，但以整体的方式来处理它也很重要，包括致幻剂已知会影响的所有上述生物学过程，并探索其他与物质相关的因素的作用，如给药途径和形式，以及饮食和生活方式等作为迷幻体验一部分的因素。
