Altering Consciousness

Altering Consciousness [Author Name(s), First M. Last, Omit Titles and Degrees]

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Altering Consciousness

There are various drugs that are currently in practice which are used to alter the consciousness of an individual. Lysergic acid diethylamide is a psychedelic drug that is used to induce an altered condition of consciousness. The interest in this specific group of drug is growing from the past few years due to the extraordinary clinical applications and also their altered neural conditions. In this research paper by using various neuroimaging methods it has been described thata direct link is present between the cartico-striato-thalamo-cortical regions and the LSD drugs along with the specific role of serotonin 2A receptor. These drugs have shown a change in the state of consciousness by inducing mood swings, alterations in thoughts and also a sense of self. Therefore it is effective to study the state of consciousness by using these drugs.

The CSTC model presents the idea that the thalamus of the brain plays an important role in the overall regulation of information to the cortex region thus it is critically involved in the regulation of consciousness. The results of this study suggest that the drug lysergic acid changes the connectivity within the specific pathway in humans and also in other animal models which suggest that the breakdown of information which process within these networks and loops is essential for the psychedelic state that is also called as altering consciousness. The LSD also improves the connectivity from the thalamus to the lower cortex in such a way that involves the activation of the serotonin 2A receptors. These results are helpful in understanding the mode of action of the drug LSD and also its effect on the consciousness of the individual. It is important in the formation of other therapeutics and also our understanding of the efficiency of the various drugs that are used during surgeries to change the consciousness of the individuals ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"a16srnfr9df","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Preller et al., 2019)","plainCitation":"(Preller et al., 2019)"},"citationItems":[{"id":764,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/2RJg7y7G/items/MC6A7DZ8"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/2RJg7y7G/items/MC6A7DZ8"],"itemData":{"id":764,"type":"article-journal","title":"Effective connectivity changes in LSD-induced altered states of consciousness in humans","container-title":"Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America","page":"2743-2748","volume":"116","issue":"7","source":"PubMed Central","abstract":"Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is a psychedelic drug that reliably induces an altered state of consciousness. Interest in psychedelic compounds is growing due to their remarkable potential for understanding altered neural states and potential clinical applications. However, there are major knowledge gaps regarding LSD’s neuropharmacology. Using cutting-edge neuroimaging methods we investigated directed connectivity between cortico–striato–thalamo-cortical (CSTC) regions after administration of LSD together with the specific role of the serotonin 2A receptor. Our results provide evidence that LSD alters directed connectivity within CSTC pathways in humans, suggesting that a disintegration of information processing within these loops is underlying the psychedelic state. These results inform the neurobiology of altered states of consciousness with critical implications for rational development of novel treatments., Psychedelics exert unique effects on human consciousness. The thalamic filter model suggests that core effects of psychedelics may result from gating deficits, based on a disintegration of information processing within cortico–striato–thalamo-cortical (CSTC) feedback loops. To test this hypothesis, we characterized changes in directed (effective) connectivity between selected CTSC regions after acute administration of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and after pretreatment with Ketanserin (a selective serotonin 2A receptor antagonist) plus LSD in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, cross-over study in 25 healthy participants. We used spectral dynamic causal modeling (DCM) for resting-state fMRI data. Fully connected DCM models were specified for each treatment condition to investigate the connectivity between the following areas: thalamus, ventral striatum, posterior cingulate cortex, and temporal cortex. Our results confirm major predictions proposed in the CSTC model and provide evidence that LSD alters effective connectivity within CSTC pathways that have been implicated in the gating of sensory and sensorimotor information to the cortex. In particular, LSD increased effective connectivity from the thalamus to the posterior cingulate cortex in a way that depended on serotonin 2A receptor activation, and decreased effective connectivity from the ventral striatum to the thalamus independently of serotonin 2A receptor activation. Together, these results advance our mechanistic understanding of the action of psychedelics in health and disease. This is important for the development of new pharmacological therapeutics and also increases our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the potential clinical efficacy of psychedelics.","DOI":"10.1073/pnas.1815129116","ISSN":"0027-8424","note":"PMID: 30692255\nPMCID: PMC6377471","journalAbbreviation":"Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A","author":[{"family":"Preller","given":"Katrin H."},{"family":"Razi","given":"Adeel"},{"family":"Zeidman","given":"Peter"},{"family":"Stämpfli","given":"Philipp"},{"family":"Friston","given":"Karl J."},{"family":"Vollenweider","given":"Franz X."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2019",2,12]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Preller et al., 2019).

References

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Preller, K. H., Razi, A., Zeidman, P., Stämpfli, P., Friston, K. J., & Vollenweider, F. X. (2019). Effective connectivity changes in LSD-induced altered states of consciousness in humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116(7), 2743–2748. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1815129116