News

January 25, 2024

In an exploratory and preliminary clinical test, a team of researchers at Stanford University has obtained “initial evidence” suggesting that a psychoactive compound called ibogaine, when co-administered with magnesium, “could be a powerful therapeutic” to safely treat a variety of psychiatric symptoms, including PTSD, major depression and anxiety, and suicidality, all of which may emerge following traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Ibogaine, derived from the root bark of a shrub, has been used for traditional religious and healing purposes in Africa for centuries. Sometimes called an atypical psychedelic, the Stanford researchers prefer to classify it as an “oneirogen,” based on a Greek word that describes its main psychotropic effect: therapeutic dosing leads to dreamlike states of consciousness that persist for several hours and sometimes even longer. Proponents of the compound say it facilitates self-reflection and self-evaluation. These are qualities that in recent years have been attributed to psychedelic compounds such as MDMA, psilocybin, and LSD. Like those agents, ibogaine since 1970 has been listed by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as a Schedule I compound, with no officially recognized medical use and with a “high potential for misuse.”

Read the full article at The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation »

But other factors appear to predict psychological resilience in study of first-year college students, adding to options for identifying anyone who might need more support under stress

December 16, 2023

Living through a historic pandemic while handling the stress of the first year of college sent one-third of students in a new study into clinical depression. That’s double the percentage seen in previous years of the same study.

And while certain genetic factors appeared to shield first-year students in pre-pandemic years from depression, even students with these protective factors found themselves developing symptoms in the pandemic years.

In fact, much of the overall rise in student depression during the pandemic was among young women with this kind of “genetic resilience.”

But the research has a silver lining.

By studying these students’ experiences and backgrounds in depth and over time, scientists may have discovered a way to go beyond genetics to predict which students might be more or less vulnerable to stress-related depression.

Read the full article at Michigan Neuroscience Institute »

New approach integrates blood and brain data to identify potential blood biomarkers

May 5, 2022

A University of California, Irvine-led team of researchers, along with members of the Pritzker Research Consortium, have developed an approach to identify blood biomarkers that could predict the suicide risk of major depressive disorder (MDD) patients.

The study, titled, “Identification of potential blood biomarkers associated with suicide in major depressive disorder,” was published in Translational Psychiatry.

Results from the study demonstrate non-preserved blood can be used to discover suicide specific biomarkers using a novel gene expression approach and a gene expression quantification approach less sensitive to the effects of RNA degradation (NanoString). In addition to identifying individuals at highest risk for suicide, the results can help researchers understand molecular changes in suicide victims.

“These blood biomarkers are an important step toward developing blood tests to identify patients with imminent risk of ending their lives,” said corresponding author Adolfo Sequeira, PhD, associate researcher in the Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior at the UCI School of Medicine. “To our knowledge, this is the first study to analyze blood and brain samples in a well-defined population of MDDs demonstrating significant differences in gene expression associated with completed suicide.”

Read the full article at Science Daily »