Study suggests psychedelics might affect the immune response and mental health

Researchers at Mass General Brigham have discovered that some psychedelic compounds appear to alter how the immune system communicates with the brain, offering hope that psychedelics have the potential to alleviate some mental health disorders.

Past research has suggested that immune signaling from chronic stress, fear and resulting inflammation can drive some psychiatric diseases.

In the new study, published this month in the journal Nature, the researchers demonstrated that psychedelic substances, such as MDMA and psilocybin, affected how brain cells in mice responded to immune activity. They then validated some of their observations in human cells.

Their experiments showed that the psychedelics reprogrammed immune tissues, which they said could potentially reverse immune changes and inflammation connected with psychiatric issues such as anxiety and depression.

"We think that just an acute dose of psychedelics recalibrates tissue plasticity that can be disrupted by stress or even potentially mood disorders," said the study's corresponding author Michael Wheeler, assistant professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. "And so that's what we're pretty excited about."

Wheeler said further experiments are needed to understand exactly how psychedelics affect immune cells and brain communication.

He said he is collaborating with scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital's Center for the Neuroscience of Psychedelics on a clinical trial of patients with depression who are being treated with psychedelics.

"Psychedelics are not necessarily a cure-all," Wheeler said. "But the fact that they unlock such potent brain plasticity alongside modifying these peripheral inflammatory components that we know also tune behavior, we think they may have many different benefits."