A rare cell type in the gut, the enterochromaffin (EC) cell, drove both gut discomfort and anxiety symptoms in animal models of gastrointestinal pain. Furthermore, the cells reacted differently in male and female mice, opening up new ways to understand and investigate the higher prevalence of gut disorders in women.
Psychedelic drugs may exert their effects at intracellular serotonin receptors that serotonin itself, which does not cross cell membranes, cannot reach. The findings were published in the Feb. 17, 2023, issue of Science by researchers from the University of California at Davis.
Psychedelic drugs may exert their effects at intracellular serotonin receptors that serotonin itself, which does not cross cell membranes, cannot reach. The findings were published in the Feb. 17, 2023, issue of Science by researchers from the University of California at Davis. An accompanying editorial by Evan Hess and Todd Gould at the University of Maryland School of Medicine called them “a key achievement in the understanding of the mechanism of action of psychedelics” and “an important step forward for a rapidly expanding and much-needed field of study.”
A study by Japanese scientists at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology has found that serotonergic neural projections to the brain's orbitofrontal and medial prefrontal cortices differentially modulate patience, as assessed by the time spent awaiting future rewards in mice.
