TY - JOUR
T1 - Moderators of ayahuasca's biological antidepressant action
AU - de Sousa, Geovan Menezes
AU - de Oliveira Tavares, Vagner Deuel
AU - de Menezes Galvão, Ana Cecília
AU - de Almeida, Raíssa Nóbrega
AU - Palhano-Fontes, Fernanda
AU - Lobão-Soares, Bruno
AU - de Morais Freire, Fúlvio Aurélio
AU - Nunes, Emerson Arcoverde
AU - Maia-de-Oliveira, João Paulo
AU - Perkins, Daniel
AU - Sarris, Jerome
AU - de Araujo, Dráulio Barros
AU - Galvão-Coelho, Nicole Leite
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Introduction: The understanding of biological responses to psychedelics with antidepressant potential is imperative. Here we report how a set of acute parameters, namely emotional (depressive symptoms), cognitive (psychedelic experience), and physiological (salivary cortisol), recorded during an ayahuasca dosing session, modulated serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), serum cortisol (SC), serum interleukin 6 (IL-6), plasma C-reactive protein (CRP), and salivary cortisol awakening response (CAR). Methods: Results were analyzed 2 days after the psychedelic intervention (ayahuasca) versus placebo in both patients with treatment-resistant depression and healthy volunteers. These measures were assessed as part of a randomized double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial (n = 72). Results: Results revealed that larger reductions of depressive symptoms during the dosing session significantly moderated higher levels of SC in patients. Whereas lesser changes in salivary cortisol levels during the ayahuasca intervention were related to higher BDNF levels in patients with a larger clinical response in the reduction in depressive symptoms. No moderator was found for patient’s CAR, IL-6, and CRP responses to ayahuasca and for all biomarker responses to ayahuasca in healthy controls and in the placebo group. Discussion: In summary, some specific emotional and physiological parameters during experimental ayahuasca session were revealed as critical moderators of the improvement of major depression biomarkers, mainly BDNF and SC two days after ayahuasca intake. These findings contribute to paving the way for future studies investigating the biological antidepressant response to psychedelic therapy.
AB - Introduction: The understanding of biological responses to psychedelics with antidepressant potential is imperative. Here we report how a set of acute parameters, namely emotional (depressive symptoms), cognitive (psychedelic experience), and physiological (salivary cortisol), recorded during an ayahuasca dosing session, modulated serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), serum cortisol (SC), serum interleukin 6 (IL-6), plasma C-reactive protein (CRP), and salivary cortisol awakening response (CAR). Methods: Results were analyzed 2 days after the psychedelic intervention (ayahuasca) versus placebo in both patients with treatment-resistant depression and healthy volunteers. These measures were assessed as part of a randomized double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial (n = 72). Results: Results revealed that larger reductions of depressive symptoms during the dosing session significantly moderated higher levels of SC in patients. Whereas lesser changes in salivary cortisol levels during the ayahuasca intervention were related to higher BDNF levels in patients with a larger clinical response in the reduction in depressive symptoms. No moderator was found for patient’s CAR, IL-6, and CRP responses to ayahuasca and for all biomarker responses to ayahuasca in healthy controls and in the placebo group. Discussion: In summary, some specific emotional and physiological parameters during experimental ayahuasca session were revealed as critical moderators of the improvement of major depression biomarkers, mainly BDNF and SC two days after ayahuasca intake. These findings contribute to paving the way for future studies investigating the biological antidepressant response to psychedelic therapy.
UR - https://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:71919
U2 - 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1033816
DO - 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1033816
M3 - Article
SN - 1664-0640
VL - 13
JO - Frontiers in Psychiatry
JF - Frontiers in Psychiatry
M1 - 1033816
ER -