Psilocybin's acute and persistent brain effects: A precision imaging drug trial
Authors
Subha Subramanian, Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02215, USA. ssubram5@bidmc.harvard.edu.
Travis Rick Reneau, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Demetrius Perry, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Ravi Chacko, Advocate Health - MidwestFollow
Timothy O. Laumann, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Karin Flavin, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Christine Horan, Miami VA Medical Center, Miami, FL, USA.
Julie Schweiger, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Nicholas Metcalf, Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA.
Eric J. Lenze, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Abraham Z. Snyder, Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA.
Nico U. Dosenbach, Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA.
Ginger Nicol, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Joshua S. Siegel, Department of Psychiatry, NYU Langone Center for Psychedelic Medicine, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA. Joshua.Siegel@nyulangone.org.
Recommended Citation
Subramanian S, Reneau TR, Perry D, et al. Psilocybin's acute and persistent brain effects: a precision imaging drug trial. Sci Data. 2025;12(1):941. Published 2025 Jun 5. doi:10.1038/s41597-025-05189-0
Abstract
Psilocybin (PSIL) is a psychedelic drug and a promising experimental therapeutic for many psychiatric conditions. Precision functional mapping (PFM) combines densely repeated resting state fMRI sampling and individual-specific network mapping to improve signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and effect size in brain imaging research. We present a randomized cross-over study in which PFM was used to characterize acute and persistent effects of psilocybin or methylphenidate (MTP) on brain networks. Seven healthy volunteers (mean age 34.1 years, SD = 9.8; n = 3 females, n = 6 Caucasians) underwent (1) extensive baseline imaging, (2) imaging beginning 60-90 minutes after drug exposure, and (3) longitudinal imaging for up to two weeks after drug exposure. Four individuals also participated in an open-label PSIL replication protocol over 6 months later. This dataset includes resting state (using advanced high-resolution multi-echo fMRI), task fMRI, structural, and diffusion basis spectral imaging as well as assessments of subjective experience. We are releasing this unique dataset as a resource for neuroscientists to study the acute and persistent effects of PSIL and MTP on brain networks.
Affiliations
Advocate Christ Medical Center