Preclinical support for using psychedelics to treat alcohol use disorders

Focusing on female mice because they drink more alcohol than male mice, the researchers discovered that psilocin dampened the activity of these neurons following long-term alcohol exposure. This decrease in activity was associated with less alcohol drinking during drug exposure, though drinking was restored in later sessions. These observations also occurred in mice with less severe alcohol exposure, supporting clinical work showing that psychedelics may help improve issues with emotional processing and stress across a range of psychiatric disorders.

According to the researchers, these findings may shape interpretations of clinical studies on psychedelic treatments. Elaborating on their findings, says Herman, “It makes sense that dampening this neuron population reduces drinking because increased activity in these neurons is associated with alcohol use disorders. These neurons also play a role in depression and anxiety, which psychedelics are also showing promise at treating, so our work provides some mechanistic insight in those contexts, too.” 

Reference: Sarah N. Magee, Allison C. Sereno, Maria Echeveste-Sanchez, Elizabeth G. Shannon, Abir Mohsin, Sarah E. Mott, Sara P. Faccidomo, Clyde W. Hodge and Melissa A. Herman; Preclinical support for using psychedelics to treat alcohol use disorders; Society for Neuroscience; Journal: JNeurosci; DOI 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0652-25.2025