A single dose of 5-MeO-DMT stimulates adult neurogenesis in dentate gyrus
5-MeO-DMT; Neurogenesis; Granule cells; Dentate Gyrus.
The subgranular zone of dentate gyrus (DG) is one of the few regions in which neurogenesis is maintained throughout adulthood. It is believed that newborn neurons in this region encode temporal information about partially overlapping contextual memories. The 5-Methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) is a naturally occurring compound capable of inducing a powerful psychedelic state. Recently, it has been suggested that DMT analogues may be used in the treatment of mood disorders. Due to the strong link between altered neurogenesis and mood disorders, we tested whether 5-MeO-DMT is capable of increasing DG neurogenesis in vivo. We show that a single intracerebroventricular injection of 5-MeO-DMT increases cell proliferation in the DG, as evinced by BrdU staining. Moreover, using a transgenic animal that expresses tamoxifen-dependent Cre recombinase under doublecortin promoter control, we found that newborn DG granule cells (GC) have more complex dendritic morphology after 5-MeO-DMT. Moreover, newborn GC display longer afterhyperpolarization potentials and lower action potential threshold when compared to 5-MeO-DMT treated. Our findings show that 5-MeO-DMT affects neurogenesis and this effect may contribute to the known antidepressant properties of DMT-derived compounds. of