A review of psilocybin: chemistry, clinical uses and future research directions
Eliza Milliken
A * , Peter Galettis A B and Jenny Martin A B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton Heights, NSW 2305, Australia.
B Centre for Drug Repurposing and Medicines Research, School of Medicine & Public Health, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia.
Australian Journal of Chemistry 76(5) 258-263 https://doi.org/10.1071/CH23010
Submitted: 16 January 2023 Accepted: 10 March 2023 Published: 17 May 2023
© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
Classic psychedelics such as psilocybin, ketamine and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) are 5HT2A serotonin receptor agonists that produce individualised subjective affects. Today, public interest in psychedelic medicine has reached a fervour but the evidence for clinical benefit still lags. Psilocybin and psilocin are tryptophan based alkaloids found worldwide in mushrooms of the genera Psilocybe, Panaeolus, Conocybe, Gymnopilus, Stropharia, Pluteus and Panaeolina. This review addresses the current evidence base for psilocybin as a clinical medicine, the general chemistry and proposed mechanism of its therapeutic effect and future research directions for psilocybin based therapies.
Keywords: addiction, altered protein expression, anxiety, brain-derived neurotrophic factor release, depression, executive network inhibition, network reorganisation, psilocybin as clinical medicine, 5HT2A receptor agonism, sodium dependent serotonin transporter inhibition.
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