A study conducted by an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center BrainLabs Center for Psychedelic Research has found that extracts from naturally grown psychedelic mushrooms may be more therapeutically effective than synthesised psilocybin.
The study, led by Bernard Lerer aimed to investigate the unique therapeutic effects of natural mushroom extracts compared to lab synthesised psilocybin, which is the form of the drug commonly used in psychiatric research.
Researchers compared the effects of natural and synthesised versions of psilocybin in laboratory mice. The results indicated that the natural mushroom extract demonstrated a stronger and more prolonged impact on plasticity in the brain, suggesting that it may offer unique therapeutic benefits. Analysis showed distinct metabolic profiles between synthesised psilocybin and the extract, indicating that the mushroom extract may have a “unique influence on oxidative stress and energy production pathways.”
While the research showed that the mushroom extract and synthesised psilocybin had different metabolic and neuroplasticity effects, both induced head twitch response, suggesting that the acute effects of both compounds are similar at the basic behavioural level.
“My colleagues and I are very interested in the potential of psychedelics to treat serious, treatment-resistant psychiatric disorders such as depression, PTSD, OCD and even schizophrenia,” Lerer said to PsyPost.
“There are many anecdotal and clinical reports which suggest that extract of psilocybin-containing mushrooms may have unique effects that are qualitatively and quantitatively different from chemical psilocybin, and also some preclinical studies,” Lerer added. “This observation has important clinical implications and we wanted to test it empirically in a laboratory study.”
The researchers noted that while the mushroom extract showed potentially enhanced therapeutic effects, creating them in consistent formulations can be a challenge, making synthesised versions of the compound a common alternative for therapeutic research. However, they highlighted that it is possible to make extracts in consistent formulations with careful cultivation and processing.
The study’s findings suggest that there may be therapeutic advantages to using a natural mushroom extract over chemically synthesised psilocybin when both are administered at the same psilocybin dose. However, the researchers emphasised the need for further human studies to confirm these findings and explore the clinical advantages of natural mushroom extracts in psychiatric treatment.
