Psilocybin may protect the brain from mild head trauma

A study in Communications Biology found that psilocybin protected rats' brains from repeated mild head impacts by boosting neuroplasticity. Such injuries, which don't cause loss of consciousness, currently have no treatment and raise the long-term risk of dementia and CTE.

• Three controlled mild head impacts altered rat brain networks on MRI scans
• Psilocybin belongs to psychoplastogens that boost dendrite and synapse growth
• Mild head trauma without loss of consciousness has no treatment, only observation
• Repeated impacts raise the long-term risk of CTE and dementia