New Delhi, April 30 While psilocybin -- a natural compound found in certain mushrooms -- has shown promise in treating depression and anxiety, a new study showed its benefits in lifting mood and enhancing motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease patients.
Researchers from the University of California San Francisco showed that psilocybin can be used to help Parkinson's patients who often experience debilitating mood dysfunction in addition to their motor symptoms and don't respond well to antidepressants or other medications.
The team conducted a pilot on seven men and five women with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease. They were prescribed a psilocybin of 10 mg dose, followed two weeks later by a higher dose of 25 mg.
The findings, published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, showed that the drug was tolerated without any serious side effects or worsening symptoms.
The pilot study also showed clinically significant improvements in mood, cognition, and motor function that lasted for weeks after the drug was out of the participant's systems.
It is the first time a psychedelic has been tested on patients with any neurodegenerative disease.
"We are still in very early stages of this work, but this first study went well beyond what we expected," said Ellen Bradley, Assistant Professor and associate director of UCSF's Translational Psychedelic Research Programme (TrPR).
"Many people don't realise this, but mood symptoms in Parkinson's are linked to a faster physical decline," she said. "And they are actually a stronger predictor of patients' quality of life with Parkinson's than their motor symptoms."
Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, characterised by uncontrolled movements due to abnormal brain activity.
While medications like levodopa can relieve symptoms, there are no approved therapies to slow the progression or reverse the disease itself.
Common early physical symptoms include tremors and foot-dragging, but Bradley said anxiety and depression in patients with no history of psychiatric problems often precede the onset of motor symptoms by several years.
It's unclear why standard medications often don't work well for these patients, but mood changes could be part of the neurodegenerative disease process, the team said.
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