Psychedelic drugs share a 'neural fingerprint' in the brain that could unlock new therapies

A groundbreaking study reveals that psychedelic drugs like LSD, psilocybin, DMT, mescaline and ayahuasca all produce a distinctive 'neural fingerprint' in the human brain when users experience their mind-altering effects.

Shared impact on brain function

Researchers from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, analyzed more than 500 brain scans from 267 people in five countries, combining 11 brain-imaging datasets to build a comprehensive picture of how the substances temporarily rewire the brain.

The study, published in Nature Medicine, found that all five drugs dissolve the usual hierarchy of brain systems, flattening the neural networks and enabling excessive cross-talk between them – a phenomenon that could underlie the sense of raw access to one's own consciousness described by some users.

Moreover, the drugs showed a striking effect on the communication between higher-level thinking networks and more primitive networks linked to vision and sensation, as well as deeper changes in regions involved in habits, learning and movement.

Contrary to some previous claims, the study found little reliable evidence that individual brain networks disintegrate on psychedelics. Instead, it suggests that these drugs may offer a promising therapeutic avenue by temporarily reorganizing neural connections in the brain.

Lead author Dr. Danilo Bzdok emphasized the importance of this work in establishing a solid foundation for psychedelic research, which is increasingly investigating the drugs as potential treatments for severe mental health and neurological conditions like depression, schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder.