{"doi":"10.1101/2021.02.17.431629","title":"Psilocybin induces rapid and persistent growth of dendritic spines in frontal cortex <i>in vivo</i>","abstract":"Summary Psilocybin is a serotonergic psychedelic with untapped therapeutic potential. There are hints that the use of psychedelics can produce neural adaptations, although the extent and time scale of the impact in a mammalian brain are unknown. In this study, we used chronic two-photon microscopy to image longitudinally the apical dendritic spines of layer 5 pyramidal neurons in the mouse medial frontal cortex. We found that a single dose of psilocybin led to ∼10% increases in spine size and density, driven by an elevated spine formation rate. The structural remodeling occurred quickly within 24 hours and was persistent 1 month later. Psilocybin also ameliorated stress-related behavioral deficit and elevated excitatory neurotransmission. Overall, the results demonstrate that psilocybin-evoked synaptic rewiring in the cortex is fast and enduring, potentially providing a structural trace for long-term integration of experiences and lasting beneficial actions.","journal":"bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)","year":2021,"id":213294,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":26,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9621,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":256509,"name":"Clara Liao","orcid":"0000-0003-2734-8202","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":615528,"name":"Ian Gregg","orcid":"0000-0002-7075-3169","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":375812,"name":"Pasha A. Davoudian","orcid":"0000-0002-5096-7610","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":615529,"name":"Neil K. Savalia","orcid":"0000-0003-2262-4466","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":617000,"name":"Kristina Delagarza","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":459946,"name":"Alex C. Kwan","orcid":"0000-0003-2169-1667","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":616999,"name":"Ling-Xiao Shao","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":57,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:52:36.886828Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}