A Virtual Clinical Trial of Psychedelics to Treat Patients With Disorders of Consciousness
Source abstract
Abstract
Abstract Disorders of consciousness (DoC), including unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS) and minimally conscious state (MCS), have limited treatment options and are characterized by low complexity of brain activity. Recent research suggests that psychedelic drugs, which enhance the complexity of brain activity, could offer promising therapies. Here, individualized whole‐brain computational models are developed for patients with DoC, optimized with empirical functional magnetic resonance imaging data and diffusion‐weighted imaging data, upon which the administration of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin is simulated. An in silico perturbation protocol is applied to assess brain dynamics, first distinguishing between different states of consciousness, including DoC, anesthesia, and the psychedelic state. Then, brain dynamics are assessed before and after a simulation of psychedelic drugs on patients with DoC. Findings indicated that the simulation of LSD and psilocybin shifted the brain activity of patients with DoC closer to criticality (the point at a phase transition between order and chaos), with a greater effect in patients in the MCS. In patients with UWS, the treatment response correlated with structural connectivity, while in patients in the MCS, it aligned with baseline functional connectivity. These results offer a computational foundation for using psychedelics in DoC treatment and highlight the potential future role of computational modeling in drug discovery and personalized medicine.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Psychedelics and Drug Studies · Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs · Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Coma Science Group, GIGA‐Consciousness University of Liège Avenue de l'hôpital 11 Liège 4000 Belgium
NeuroRehab & Consciousness Clinic, Neurology Department University Hospital of Liège Avenue de l'hôpital 11 Liège 4000 Belgium
Institut du Cerveau – Paris Brain Institute – ICM Inserm CNRS, Sorbonne Université Paris 75013 France
Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Centre for Brain and Cognition, Computational Neuroscience Group Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona 08005 Spain
Department of Psychology University of Exeter Exeter EX4 4QG UK
Centre for Psychedelic Research, Department of Brain Sciences, Faculty of Medicine Imperial College London London W12 0HS UK
Psychedelics Division, Neuroscape University of California, San Francisco San Francisco CA CA 94158 USA
Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience Maastricht University Maastricht 6229 ER The Netherlands
Anesthesia and Perioperative Neuroscience Laboratory, GIGA‐Consciousness, GIGA Institute University of Liège Liège 4000 Belgium
Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine Liège University Hospital Liège 4000 Belgium
CERVO Brain Research Centre, Laval University 2601 de la Canardière Québec G1J 2G3 Canada
Biomedical Engineering Group University of Valladolid Valladolid 47011 Spain
Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina, (CIBER‐BBN) Madrid 28029 Spain
Department of Data Analysis University of Ghent Henri Dunantlaan 1 Ghent 9000 Belgium
Funding
Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS
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