Single dose of 5-MeO-DMT increase proliferation levels in adult dentate gyrus modifying morphology and electrophysiological properties of granule cells toward full maturity
5-MeO-DMT; Neurogenesis; Granule cells; Dentate Gyrus.
Only a few neurons keep being produced in the adult mammalian brain. The Subgranular Zone of dentate gyrus are one of these rare niches, where are located the granule cells necessary to encode temporal information about partially overlapping contextual memories, these cells possess one of the most prominent plasticity observed in the adult brain. The 5-Methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) are a natural compound capable of induce a powerful psychedelic state and for that reason used together with chemical analogues and Monoamine oxidase inhibitors recreationally and therapeutically around the globe for millennia, in a decoction with many names including ayahuasca, for south American indigenous people. In this study, we aim to test the hypothesis that the non-selective serotonin agonist 5-MeO-DMT alone are capable of increasing proliferation levels and act as plasticity enhancer to those cells in vivo in a single dose manner. Our findings point out to the ability of this compound to accelerate the proliferation levels within 1 day after injection and increase dendritic growth with 21 days after injection changing active membrane properties pointing to a full mature and integrated granule cell. These findings point out a possible reason to which this naturally abundant compound could be investigated as nootropic chemical enhancing neurogenesis capabilities.