The brains of people tripping on magic mushrooms have given the best picture yet of how psychedelic drugs work and scientists say the findings suggest such drugs could be used to treat depression.
Two separate studies into the effects of psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, showed that contrary to scientists' expectations, it does not increase but rather suppresses activity in areas of the brain that are also dampened with other anti-depressant treatments.
"Psychedelics are thought of as 'mind-expanding' drugs so it has commonly been assumed that they work by increasing brain activity," says David Nutt of Imperial College London. "But, surprisingly, we found that psilocybin actually caused activity to decrease in areas that have the densest connections with other areas."
These so-called 'hub' regions of the brain are known to play a role in constraining our experience of the world and keeping it orderly, he says.
To view the entire article, please refer to http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/01/24/3414225.htm
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