Jan. 11, 2024 – Professor David Nutt oversees an early brain scanning study involving gambling stimuli. The results of this work, which have yet to be published, were positive. “We found what we were looking for, in that the gamblers brains lit up in core reward processing regions in response to gambling-related videos, which was not seen in the healthy control subjects.”
The next step is to carry out a limited trial to see if the mechanisms identified are affected when someone takes psilocybin. This work is being supported with a UKRI Impact Acceleration Account grant, funding that is designed to bridge the gap between a scientific discovery and its application. “We are looking for a proof of principle,” Dr Zafar explains. “We want to see if there is an impact on brain function that is related to the clinical end-point, something that tells us an individual’s dysfunctional reward circuits have been recalibrated or re-set.”
This would be the stepping stone to a deeper investigation of possible therapies. “The hope, if it works out, is that we can launch a proper clinical trial and see if this kind of therapy is safe and effective in clinical populations.”
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