Dr. Alok Kanojia (Dr. K)

Because psychedelics, when we're talking about the 5-HT2A receptor and particular patterns of activation, there are also other things that this particular receptor does.

The first thing that it does is that it increases things like neuroplasticity and neurogenesis.

So what this means is that it changes the way that our brain wires itself or is wired, actually can cause stimulation of something called BDNF, which is brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which actually causes an increase in the growth of our neurons, causes new neurons to be born.

So we start to see lots of changes in the connectivity of the brain.

So let's look at that in a little bit more detail.

So here we have MDMA, ayahuasca, psilocybin, and LSD.

These are probably the four most well-studied psychedelics.

Here's the serotonin receptor.

And what we see is that we can see mood disorders and other mental disorders.

They have antidepressant effects.

anxiolytic effects, also reduce suicidality, and can alter things like alcohol usage and PTSD.

So now let's take a look at what the serotonin receptor actually does.

Psychedelics are serotonin 2A receptor agonists, including LSD, ayahuasca, DMT,

and psilocybin, also MDMA.

So the 2A receptor and specifically psychedelics also increase the functional connectivity of the brain.

So psychedelics are different from traditional antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications because they do a couple of other things.

So they have those mood reducing effects just like antidepressants.

But what we also know about psychedelics is that they increase neuroplasticity, which is the ability for our brain to rewire.

They increase neurogenesis, which is the ability of our brain to grow new neurons, like basically reproduce neurons.

That's mediated by something called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which is something that stimulates neuronal growth.