ArticleNature neuroscience2023
Psychedelics promote plasticity by directly binding to BDNF receptor TrkB.
Article in Nature neuroscience, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07017478 (Mood Effects of Serotonin Agonists), which is not on this map. Cited by 253 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Mood Effects of Serotonin Agonists: Depression
Who cites it
253 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 404 citations in OpenAlex.
- 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
- Neuroplasticity and recovery of the brain affected by substance use disorder: multilevel mechanisms and new therapeutic strategies (2020-2025).Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2026Pooled it
- Psychedelics and ketamine/esketamine in depressive disorders: biological mechanisms and associated neuroimaging and clinical changes.Translational psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Reconsidering evidence for psychedelic-induced psychosis: an overview of reviews, a systematic review, and meta-analysis of human studies.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of psychoplastogens on blood levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in humans: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Clinical Pharmacokinetics of N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT): A Systematic Review and Post-hoc Analysis.Clinical pharmacokinetics · 2025Pooled it
- Comparative oral monotherapy of psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, ayahuasca, and escitalopram for depressive symptoms: systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2024Pooled it
- Neuroplastic white matter changes in patients with major depression following lysergic acid diethylamide treatment.Cell reports. Medicine · 2026Trial
- Epigenome-wide association study of psilocybin-induced methylome changes in alcohol use disorder.Translational psychiatry · 2026Trial
- Safety, Pharmacokinetics, and Pharmacodynamics of a 6-h N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) Infusion in Healthy Volunteers: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.Clinical and translational science · 2025Trial
- Large-scale brain connectivity changes following the administration of lysergic acid diethylamide, d-amphetamine, and 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Trial
- Psilocybin-assisted neurofeedback for the improvement of executive functions: a randomized semi-naturalistic-lab feasibility study.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024Trial
- Neural complexity is increased after low doses of LSD, but not moderate to high doses of oral THC or methamphetamine.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Trial
- Psychedelics and disorders of consciousness: a new frontier in neurotherapeutics.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- Psilocybin produces amplified acute responses and sex-specific long-term increases in sensorimotor gating in the mGlu5 knockout mouse model of schizophrenia.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Moving beyond 5-HTPsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Single-Ascending-Dose Study to Identify a Subperceptual Dose of Psilocybin in Healthy Adults.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Prior trauma shapes the effects of psilocybin on stress sensitization in mice.Neuroscience letters · 2026Article
- Single ayahuasca administration mitigates long-term behavioral and neurochemical effects of early-life stress in rats.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2026Article
193 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
33 authors at 7 institutions in 8 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Psychedelics produce fast and persistent antidepressant effects and induce neuroplasticity resembling the effects of clinically approved antidepressants. We recently reported that pharmacologically diverse antidepressants, including fluoxetine and ketamine, act by binding to TrkB, the receptor for BDNF. Here we show that lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocin directly bind to TrkB with affinities 1,000-fold higher than those for other antidepressants, and that psychedelics and antidepressants bind to distinct but partially overlapping sites within the transmembrane domain of TrkB dimers. The effects of psychedelics on neurotrophic signaling, plasticity and antidepressant-like behavior in mice depend on TrkB binding and promotion of endogenous BDNF signaling but are independent of serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT
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Registered trials
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 Socratic graph.