Unfortunately, a cure for Alzheimer’s disease remains extremely distant. However, work is underway to alleviate the symptoms of this serious neurodegenerative disorder. And among the most promising substances there is an unexpected new entry: psilocybin, the active ingredient of hallucinogenic mushrooms. Recently, in fact, a group of Brazilian neuroscientists documented in the pages of the magazine Frontiers in Neuroscience the effects of the administration of a high dose of the substance on a patient over 10 years old suffering from an advanced form of Alzheimer’s, highlighting a partial and temporary recovery of some cognitive and motor functions in the weeks following treatment.
The clinical case
The management of symptoms related to the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s dementia represents one of the most complex challenges in contemporary neurology. Despite decades of trials, available drugs are unable to halt cognitive decline. In recent years, research has begun to evaluate the use of psychedelic substances to stimulate neuronal plasticity and modulate brain circuits compromised by the disorder. Based on these premises, the team led by Marcos Lago, a neuroscientist at the University of São Paulo, wanted to verify whether psilocybin could reactivate latent functional capacities in a brain characterized by severe neurodegeneration, by monitoring the patient’s reactions in a protected environment.
The experiment
The research was divided into two distinct sessions one month apart. In the first phase, the patient was administered orally an initial dose of 5 grams of mushrooms containing psilocybin, a significantly higher quantity than those commonly used in standard clinical trials. After taking it, the woman entered a state of deep and prolonged sleep, but began talking to herself, a detail that convinced the researchers to continue with the experiment.
From the second session onwards she was given approximately 3 grams of psilocybin per month. And this time, the patient remained alert and expressive, and began talking to the researchers, describing emotionally charged scenes, such as the memory of going out to sea with her son. The authors specified that the study did not involve monitoring brain activity via electroencephalogram or the use of standardized cognitive scales, and was mainly configured as a purely observational preliminary experiment.
The effectiveness of psilocybin
Before treatment, the woman’s condition was extremely serious: communication was limited to monosyllables, interaction with the external environment was almost absent and there was total dependence in daily activities, as well as a condition of chronic urinary incontinence that had lasted for over five years. Approximately 19 hours after the first administration, the patient began talking to herself for several hours. In the following days, doctors recorded the recovery of sphincter control and the ability to dress and walk independently, and a renewed ability to hold conversations while maintaining eye contact.
The results obtained, although significant, do not indicate a regression of the pathological lesions typical of Alzheimer’s. As specified by the authors of the study themselves, the phenomenon suggests that in advanced stages of the disease residual functional capacities remain, accessible through specific neuromodulation conditions. To understand whether psilocybin can offer structural and long-lasting benefits, randomized controlled clinical studies on larger samples are needed. Currently, several international institutions are launching similar projects; among these, preliminary research aims to establish whether reduced doses of this substance can alleviate depressive states and improve the quality of life in subjects with mild cognitive impairment.