A drug based on psychedelic LSD relieves anxiety and depression in mice : Shots

LSD blotter tabs sit on top of a US quarter coin. A drug based off of psychedelic LSD appears to relieve depression and anxiety in mice, but without the hallucinogenic side

effects. PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images LSD blotter tabs sit on top of a US quarter coin. A drug based off

of psychedelic LSD appears to relieve depression and anxiety in mice, but without the hallucinogenic side effects. PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images Drugs like magic mushrooms

and LSD can act as powerful and long-lasting antidepressants. But they also tend to produce mind-bending side-effects that limit their use. Now, scientists report in the journal

Nature that they have created drugs based on LSD that seem to relieve anxiety and depression – in mice – without inducing the usual hallucinations. "We found our compounds had

essentially the same antidepressant activity as psychedelic drugs," says Dr. Bryan Roth, an author of the study and a professor of pharmacology at UNC Chapel Hill School of

Medicine. But, he says, "they had no psychedelic drug-like actions at all." The discovery could eventually lead to medications for depression and anxiety that work better, work

faster, have fewer side effects, and last longer. The success is just the latest involving tripless versions of psychedelic drugs. One previous effort created a hallucination-free

variant of ibogaine, which is made from the root bark of a shrubby plant native to Central Africa known as the iboga tree. "It's very encouraging to see multiple groups approach

this problem in different ways and come up with very similar solutions," says David E. Olson, a chemical neuroscientist at the University of California, Davis, who led the ibogaine

project. An unexpected find The new drug comes from a large team of scientists who did not start out looking for an antidepressant. They had been building a virtual library of 75

million molecules that include an unusual structure found in a number of drugs, including the psychedelics psilocybin and LSD, a migraine drug (ergotamine), and cancer drugs

including vincristine. The team decided to focus on molecules that affect the brain's serotonin system, which is involved in regulating a person's mood. But they still weren't

looking for an antidepressant. Roth recalls that during one meeting, someone asked, "What are we looking for here anyway? And I said, well, if nothing else, we'll have the world's

greatest psychedelic drugs." As their work progressed, though, the team realized that other researchers were showing that the psychedelic drug psilocybin could relieve depression