Jaeryeong Kim
Research Mentor: Omar Ahmed
Mentor Department: Psychology, LSA
Author(s): Jaeryeong Kim, Elizabeth Brouns, Omar Ahmed
Session: Session 3 (11:00 AM – 11:50 AM)
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
Abstract
This study sought to investigate the biological mechanisms underlying improvements in cognitive flexibility following the administration of a single dose of a psychedelic. Prior research has demonstrated that psychedelics may improve cognitive flexibility in rodent models, which may be attributed to psychedelic-mediated increases in synaptic plasticity. Specifically, classical psychedelics are thought to bind to serotonin (5-HT) type 2A receptors to induce structural and functional changes in neurons. The anterodorsal nucleus of the anterior thalamic nuclei is a brain region that contains a high density of 5-HT2A neurons, warranting the exploration of its role in psychedelic-mediated cognitive flexibility. Currently, it is unknown whether serotonin receptors in the AD thalamus of the ATN are necessary to observe psychedelic-enhanced cognitive flexibility. Using viral strategies, we knocked out 5-HT2A receptors in the AD thalamus of the ATN and administered animals with either saline or 25CN-NBOH, a classical psychedelic. Mice were trained and tested on a reversal learning paradigm over the course of 17 days, during which subjects performed sequential pokes to obtain a food reward. Performance on reversal learning was evaluated based on metrics such as percent correct, poke efficiency, and pellets. Based on preliminary results, mice administered with psychedelics performed worse than their saline counterparts. Our findings suggest that 5-HT2A knockout in the AD thalamus may prevent psychedelic-medicated cognitive flexibility improvements, and may even worsen cognitive function. More research is needed to understand the pharmacology of psychedelics and their effects on cognition and behavior.
