PLT Test Blog

  62 clinical trials with Psilocybin are registered Today’s post is about treating a wide range of conditions that share neuroinflammation in common, by targeting the serotonin receptor 5-HT 2A . Severely disabling cluster headaches, that were seen as untreatable, have been resolved by monthly micro dosing with psilocybin. Psilocybin is a naturally occurring prodrug compound produced by more than 200 species of fungus, including magic mushrooms. Psilocybin is quickly converted by the body into Psilocin.   Psilocin Binding Profile Target Affinity Species   K i  (nM)   SERT 3,801.0 Human   5-HT 1A 567.4 Human   5-HT 1B 219.6 Human   5-HT 1D 36.4 Human   5-HT 1E 52.2 Human   5-HT 2A 107.2 Human   5...

Asperger with his Little Professors This blog is focused more on severe autism, but today it is turn for the Aspies.   The post does rather ramble, because I included some old unused material on micro-dose LSD that may be Aspie-relevant. Most people diagnosed with autism these days do not have severe autism and so their ideal medical therapy may be very different to the Polypill, I developed for my son. For a young Aspie he might just need a single intervention like Sertraline (Zoloft) and nothing else, or perhaps Amantadine. There is more than twenty years of experience medically treating people with Asperger’s, but it very much remains a case of trial and error to find what works. It does look like most translational research in autism is now focused on those without problems with speech or cognition. That is good news for people with Asperger’s, not so good for the other end of the spectrum. The paper below is 20 years old, but the medical treatment has not become out of date. G...

Researchers are always looking for biomarkers of autism as a diagnostic tool; I am more interested in biomarkers as an indicator of might be going wrong and hence, perhaps, an indicator of what to do about it. Going back more than half a century, just such a biomarker was found.   Increased platelet levels of 5-HT ( 5-Hydroxytryptophan) were found in 30-40 % of the autistic population.   5-HTP increases the production of the neurotransmitter serotonin and so it was suggested that hyperserotonemia may be a factor in autism.     Hyperseratonemia (Serotonin syndrome) Hyperseratonemia is not treated by reducing the amount of serotonin, rather by using a receptor antagonist that in effect blocks the serotonin effect.     SSRIs and other anti-depressants Several classes of drugs target the 5-HT system including     anti-depressants , antipsychotics , anxiolytics , antiemetics , and antimigraine drugs , as well as the psychedelic drugs and empathoge...