Neurotransmitter correlated with ego dissolution discovered

First-of-Its-Kind Study Hints at How Psilocybin Works in The Brain to Dissolve Ego

Interestingly enough, in the new clinical study, these two regions of the brain had quite different glutamate responses to psilocybin. While the authors found higher levels of glutamate in the prefrontal cortex during a trip, they actually found lower levels of glutamate in the hippocampus.

"Our data add to this hypothesis, suggesting that modulations of hippocampal glutamate in particular may be a key mediator in the decoupling underlying feelings of (positive) ego dissolution," the authors suggest.

"Whereas changes in [cortical] glutamate were found to be the strongest predictor of negatively experienced ego dissolution, changes in hippocampal glutamate were found to be the strongest predictor of positively experienced ego dissolution."

 

Interesting. So directing the drug to the proper area of positive ego dissolution would be a huge step forward, would it not?

 

Yes, if it's intended to be used medicinally.

In practice, I doubt it's feasible with psilocybin but potentially understanding such mechanisms could lead to analogues or alternative drugs which lower levels of glutamate in the hippocampus without increasing them in the cortex. Maybe it helps researchers glean some insight into consciousness as well.

I would think you might need something like nano-bots to effectively block or redirect glutamate from the cortex in vivo, which is probably closer to science-fiction than science-fact at this point.