Study Summary

Thirty-two healthy subjects underwent a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled PET study to test the neurometabolic effects of a hallucinogen, entactogen, and a stimulant and these drugs' interactions with a prefrontal activation task. The hallucinogen, entactogen and stimulant used were psilocybin, MDE, and d-methamphetamine, respectively. The main objective of this study was to examine cerebral glucose metabolism across all three drugs. For psilocybin, hypermetabolism was found in the right anterior cingulate, and hypometabolism was found in the thalamus and left precentral region. Both cortical hypometabolism and cerebellar hypermetabolism were found in both the MDE and METH groups. In all three drugs, increases in cognitive action were reduced but less so in the MDE group.