Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience

The Varieties of the Psychedelic Experience: A Preliminary Study of the Association Between the Reported Subjective Effects and the Binding Affinity Profiles of Substituted Phenethylamines and Tryptamines

This data-analytic study compared the similarity between several different psychedelic compounds, in terms of their reported subjective effects, binding affinity profiles, and molecular structures. Through the application of a novel machine-learning algorithm to the experience reports sampled from Erowid, the authors found that differences in subjective experience could be predicted by target binding site affinity and/or their conformational receptor states of the respective molecules. Notabely, the 5-HT receptor subtypes yielded relatively poor predictions by themself in contrast to dopamine receptors (D1-5), which highlights that the dopaminergic action of LSD (in contrast to psilocybin) may elicit different types of subjective experiences.

Published

November 1, 2018

Journal

Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience

Authors

Zamberlan, F., Sanz, C., Pallavicini, C., Erowid, E., Erowid, F., Tagliazucchi, E.