Psilocybin Lowered Inflammation for a Month in a Small Parkinson's Study, With Big Caveats
People with Parkinson's disease who took two doses of psilocybin had lower levels of inflammation in their blood afterward, and the drop was still there a month after the last dose, according to a research letter in JAMA Psychiatry on Oct. 21. The UCSF team, led by psychiatrist Ellen Bradley with first co-author D. Parker Kelley of Columbia University's Mitochondrial PsychoBiology group, gave 12 adults aged 40 to 75 with mild to moderate Parkinson's and mood symptoms a 10 mg dose and then a 25 mg dose about two weeks apart. Blood samples from 9 of them showed a combined inflammation score (built from IL-6, IL-8, TNF-alpha, interferon-gamma and CRP) significantly lower one day after each dose and 30 days after the second. A marker of mitochondrial stress, GDF-15, also fell the day after each dose, but was back to baseline by day 30. "This gives us an initial biological signal to investigate," Bradley told NPR's Will Stone.
What it can't tell us yet. There was no control group, everyone knew they were getting psilocybin, and only nine people gave blood. The authors say placebo effects, regression to the mean, and changes in stress or sleep could explain some of the shift, and that the blood markers don't directly show what's happening to mitochondria in the brain. It doesn't show that psilocybin treats inflammation or Parkinson's, and it says nothing about microdosing. LSU pharmacologist Charles Nichols, who wasn't involved, called it "really exciting"; the next step is a controlled trial with longer follow-up.
Parkinson's has a high-profile psychedelic case already: Brett Favre, who said his symptoms disappeared for three days after ibogaine before returning, in our Altitude People Series: Sports. Follow psilocybin studies on our trials tracker. Flagged by The Kind Teacher (@the.kind.teacher) on Instagram.