Breaking Convention Talk: Psychedelics & Neurogenesis

[Bancopuma]

Hi Nexians,

My talk from Breaking Convention has recently been put up and is here for anyone who may be interested. Kinda funny to see/hear myself talking, don't sound how I think I sound, not a perspective one gets to experience much, and seem to move around a lot! Enjoyed it though.

Titled "Harnessing Neurogenesis: Psychedelics & Beyond".

Big apologies to Macre and another Nexian who approached me after the talk...I very much wanted to connect, I got a bit swamped post talk, and being close to 6 on the Sunday eve, I had very little time to spend with my shaman lady friend I don't get to see much these days, and then I had to head across London to have dinner with my sister and a friend and then catch a train back to the Midlands...due to engineering works on the tube, dinner had to be missed and I only just made one of the last trains back.

The slides are attached if they are of interest to anyone.

 

[Creo]

Just finished watching it, great talk

 

[Use any name]

I enjoyed that very much. Thank you for sharing.

 

[3rdI]

That was quality Bancopuma, nice one:thumb_up:

 

[Bancopuma]

Thanks for the kind words peeps

 

[Macre]

Yeah great talk man. It was good to meet you afterwards also, although it was brief. Hey man it's cool, hopefully see you at BC15.

The other Nexian was none other than The Traveler himself We were both there and enjoyed the talk. We can catch up in the future my friend.

Peace

Macre

 

[Bancopuma]

Hey Macre, was good to meet you too man as short and sweet as it was! And the other guy was the Nexus overlord himself! A real shame we didn't get to properly hang out, is always great to connect with people at these things, next time I'll be sure to plan my time better with this in mind.

Until next time! Catch you on later down the trail...

 

[Ancotar]

I wish I would have found this while not at work! lol

Would really love to hear what you have to say, Bancopuma!

I'll definitely be checking it out when I get home! :thumb_up:

 

[cubeananda]

Thank you very much,

Does anyone have access to any papers published about this and related topics?

 

[Infundibulum]

It was a very nice talk indeed, thanks Banco!

We also saw you getting swarmed after the talk and didn't get the chance to talk to you in person, after which point we completely lost your tracks...

 

[Bancopuma]

Hey man, thanks a lot, seems like Nexians were coming out of the woodwork there! A real shame it was so near the end of the conference and things were hectic, as would've been really great to have a proper chat to y'all... Next time!

 

[Aegle]

Bancopuma

Thank you for sharing this excellent and comprehensive talk with us, I thoroughly enjoyed watching it.


Much Peace and Respect

 

[Bancopuma]

Thanks Aegle for your kind words, glad you enjoyed it!

cubeananda - I've attached the Catlow et al. 2013 paper 'Effects of psilocybin on hippocampal neurogenesis and extinction of trace fear conditioning'. This is the only relevant paper I have access to in its complete form at present, and this is the research that prompted me to do the talk in the first place. I've also recently submitted an article on this to Reality Sandwich but with a more all encompassing overview.

Someone recently clarified that it isn't just repeated small doses of psilocybin that increase hippocampal neurogenesis in mice, but also repeated large doses which increase it to a higher degree, just so that's clear.

 

[Macre]

It was a very nice talk indeed, thanks Banco!

We also saw you getting swarmed after the talk and didn't get the chance to talk to you in person, after which point we completely lost your tracks...

I forgot to mention the wonderful Infundibulum was present also It was a busy weekend for many.

Peace

Macre

 

[cubeananda]

Awesome article, thank you for sharing Bancopuma

 

[Bancopuma]

Hi y'all, I've written an article on this for Reality Sandwich, the link is below for anyone interested. The article provides a more general and expansive overview of neurogenesis whereas the focus of my talk was psychedelics.

Boost Your Brain: Harnessing Neurogenesis | Reality Sandwich

Neurogenesis is the birth of new neurons in the brain. There are a number of behavioral, environmental, pharmacological and biochemical factors that affect this process, many of which we have considerable power to influence.

realitysandwich.com

 

[doodlekid]

Nice talk and interesting article.

Strange, how people have been taught this paradigm of brain decline since the 30's. Really bizarre, I'm glad this is going to change.

Among the list of things that work out in favor of neurogenesis, I'm interested to see how skilling oneself in juggling would have on neurogenesis. Musical abilities like piano playing as well, and I suppose there could be endless list.

Anyway... I have a question. Reading that neurons sprout in the subventricular and hippocampus, what about the distribution through the brain - and is this distribution limited to any particular region, like the cerebral cortex for example? Likewise how is there to be neurogeneis in the cerebellum. And then there's the alleged killing of purkinje cells by ibogain, how is that to be taken in account?

 

[adam]

Good work Bancopuma, really interesting stuff! I like that article as well, it is straight to the point and has clear explanations. Keep it up:thumb_up:

 

[Bancopuma]

Thanks peeps

Juggling definitely seems to enhance neurogenesis activity, affecting the white matter of the brain. But yes the act of learning a new skill like a musical instrument or simply learning new things will certainly affect neuroplasticity, and likely enhance neurogenesis as well.

Your question is a good one and I'm not sure we have a straight answer yet, this a new and cutting edge frontier of knowledge and there are many gaps to fill. It may be that other areas of the brain are involved with this process and it has yet to be observed. Some suspect the process may be going on in other areas of the brain such as the neocortex.

It seems that once new neurons sprout, they tend to have a high death rate (this can be influenced by factors under out control such as richness of environment). The surviving neurons mature over a few weeks and integrate into the surrounding brain tissue. Some of the first research demonstrating neurogensis in adult mammals was conducted by neurobiologist Joseph Altman who found evidence for neurogensis taking place in the cerebral cortex. His and other scientists findings in this area were largely ignored by the mainstream scientific community until the 1980's.

I think the risk of ibogaine neurotoxicity to purkinje cells would come at very high doses that would be physiologically risky, and at lower doses I think any loss would be offset by the long term autoregulatory increase in GDNF.

An interesting recent article in neurogenesis in human brains.

Human Adult Neurogenesis Revealed

Retrospective carbon dating of human hippocampal cells confirms substantial adult neurogenesis and suggests that the process contributes to brain function.

www.the-scientist.com