Psilocybe Cubensis
Hallucinogenic mushrooms are fungi that contain psychoactive substances, mainly psilocybin, a chemical compound that, when broken down, turns into psilocin.
When ingesting a quantity of a fungus such as Psilocybe cubensisusers can experience effects such as sensory hallucinations, euphoria and even changes in the perception of time.
Now, a team of scientists decided to study its effect on fishwith the hope that the results can contribute to future medical and psychiatric treatments.
In new, published this Thursday in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscienceresearchers analyzed the peixe rivulet Cryptolebias marmoratus.
According to, measures between 3.8 to 7.6 centimeters and has evolved to not only thrive in brackish waters, but also to survive out of water for about two months. They are also extremely aggressive and territorial, which makes them suitable for certain social and behavioral studies.
Furthermore, because this fish self-fertilizes and produces genetically identical embryos, it offers researchers uniform models.
The team created three genetically distinct lineages of this laboratory fish. One group was exposed to the psychoactive compound, another essentially served as a target for their aggression, and a third was used separately to assess the absorption of psilocybin and its concentration in the body.
They then first observed the usual interactions between two fish separated by a barrier in an aquarium. These often include nhigh energy ado to intimidate each other without establishing physical contact, as well as demonstrations of hostility face to face, less intense in energetic terms.
The next day, the team placed one of the rivulus in a tank of water containing dissolved psilocybin for 20 minutes. Finally, they transported the medicated fish back to the tank with its original opponent and watched their reunion.
The findings offer the first direct evidence that psilocybin can reduce aggressiveness in fishwithout reducing your social interactions. Rivulus with psilocybin in their system significantly reduced their tendency, but continued to participate in more moderate frontal displays — they calmed down a little, but they also became lazy.
“The calming effect of psilocybin appears to selectively reduce heightened, costly behaviors, while lower-energy social display behaviors remain largely unchanged,” said the study’s first author, Dayna Forsyth.
“This suggests that this compound may selectively attenuate heightened social conflict, rather than completely suppressing the behavior,” the author concludes.
Although the experiment focused on a single dose of psilocybin over a short period of time, the team’s findings could spark new investigations into the uses of this compound in therapeutic treatments. In particular, knowing which social behaviors are affected by psilocybin and which remain unaffected.
