The effect of mTBI + NFS, M100907 and psilocybin on neurobiology. An mTBI+NFS reduced reelin levels in the dentate subgranular zone in the absence of treatments. B mTBI + NFS increased the number of IBA1-positive cells in the dentate molecular layer in the absence of treatment. C There was no significant difference between groups in the number of GFAP-positive cells in the dentate molecular layer. *p < 0.05 mTBI+NFS effect. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. Credit: Allen et al. (Molecular Psychiatry, 2025).
The term domestic violence (IPV) refers to physical, sexual or psychological abuse perpetrated by an individual on their romantic partner or spouse. Victims of IPV who are regularly assaulted and physically abused may sometimes exhibit injuries that have lasting consequences on their mood, mental processes, and behavior.
Common types of injuries seen in IPV victims who are periodically physically attacked include mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and disruptions in blood or oxygen flow to the brain resulting from nonfatal strangulation (NFS). Both of these phenomena have been linked to inflammation in the brain and an impaired ability to form new connections between neurons or modify older connections (i.e., neuroplasticity).
Researchers from Monash University, Vancouver Island University and the University of Victoria recently conducted a study in rats aimed at evaluating the potential of the psychedelic compound psilocybin to reverse the chronic effects of IPV-related brain damage. Their findings, published in Molecular Psychiatrysuggest that psilocybin may indeed reduce inflammation and anxiety, improve memory, and facilitate learning following brain damage caused by repeated physical trauma.
“Chronic neurobehavioral sequelae of IPV-BI are associated with neuroinflammation and impaired neuroplasticity, and effective treatment options are rare, particularly in the context of IPV,” Josh Allen, Mujun Sun and colleagues wrote in their article.
“However, psilocybin, a 5-HT2A a receptor agonist with therapeutic potential in psychiatric disorders sharing an overlapping pathophysiology with that of IB, is a promising candidate. This study evaluated the effects of psilocybin on behavior, cognition, and neurobiology in a novel rat model of recurrent IPV-BI. »
A novel rat model of IPV-related brain injury
Since the majority of IPV victims are women, Allen, Sun and their colleagues performed their experiments on female rats. To model IPV-related brain damage, they subjected the rats to mild injuries that mirrored those seen in many IPV victims.
“Female rats underwent daily TBI (lateral impact) followed by NFS (90 s) for five days, followed by 16 weeks of recovery,” the authors explained.
Four months after the rats were injured, they received either a dose of psilocybin or a placebo (salt water) injection. 24 hours later, they completed behavioral tasks designed to assess their levels of memory, learning, motivation and anxiety.
Psilocybin is known to activate 5-HT2A receptors, a subtype of serotonin receptor known to play a role in regulating mood, mental processes, and brain adaptability (i.e., plasticity). Using a medication that can block 5-HT activity2A receptors, the researchers also tried to determine whether these receptors played a key role in the observed effects.
“To determine whether the effects of psilocybin were due to 5-HT2A receptor-dependent, additional rats were pretreated with selective 5-HT2A M100907 receptor antagonist (1.5 mg/kg) one hour before psilocybin administration,” the authors wrote.
A possible path to facilitate recovery from IPV
Overall, the results of this research team’s experiments suggest that psilocybin could help reverse some of the behavioral, cognitive, and brain damage caused by repeated physical attacks. The female rats they tested were found to have less anxiety and depressive behaviors after receiving psilocybin, while also performing better on tests of memory and learning.
“Psilocybin rescued mTBI+NFS-induced abnormalities in the high positive maze, increased sucrose preference when administered without M100907, and improved reversal learning in the water maze and spatial memory in the Y maze,” the authors wrote. “In the dorsal hippocampus, mTBI+NFS rats treated with saline, but not those treated with psilocybin, had increased numbers of microglial cells in the molecular layer and fewer reelin-positive cells in the subgranular zone.”
As this study was carried out on rats, its results cannot yet be applied with certainty to humans. In the future, human clinical trials may help determine whether psilocybin is truly a safe and effective therapeutic strategy to facilitate recovery from IPV-related brain injury.
“These results suggest that the antidepressant, pro-cognitive, anti-inflammatory, and neuroplasticity-enhancing effects of psilocybin hold promise for improving chronic IPV-BI outcomes and highlight the critical role of 5-HT.2A receptors in mediating the therapeutic benefits of psilocybin,” Allen, Sun and colleagues wrote.
Written for you by our author Ingrid Fadelli, edited by Gaby Clark, and fact-checked and revised by Robert Egan, this article is the result of painstaking human work. We rely on readers like you to keep independent science journalism alive. If this reporting interests you, consider making a donation (especially monthly). You will get a without advertising account as a thank you.
More information:
Josh Allen et al, Psilocybin attenuates chronic behavioral and neurobiological alterations in a rat model of recurrent domestic violence-related brain injury, Molecular Psychiatry (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41380-025-03329-x.
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