Pyramidal cells in the neocortex are not all the same. There are major PT (pyramidal tract) and IT (intratelencephalic) subtypes. Interestingly, both subtypes express the serotonin 2A receptor 🧬.
What roles do they play for psilocybin’s action?
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What roles do they play for psilocybin’s action?
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Comments
After a single dose of psilocybin, both PT and IT neurons in the medial frontal cortex sprout new dendritic spines, indicating neural remodeling.
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Normally, psilocybin can reverse stress-related behaviors. When we inactivate PT neurons before administering psilocybin, the drug’s ameliorating effects disappeared. Silencing the IT neurons had no effect.
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The results highlight PT neurons as key to the long-term antidepressant-like effects of psilocybin.
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Psilocybin increases calcium activity in the apical dendrites of PT neurons, but not IT neurons.
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It has long been debated whether serotonin 2A receptor is needed. We took a precise approach, using a conditional knockout mouse to show that deleting the receptor in frontal cortex abolishes psilocybin’s long-term behavioral effects.
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