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Timmermann C, Roseman L, Schartner M, Milliere R, Williams LTJ, Erritzoe D, Muthukumaraswamy S, Ashton M, Bendrioua A, Kaur O, Turton S, Nour MM, Day CM, Leech R, Nutt DJ, Carhart-Harris RL. Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG. Sci Rep 2019; 9:16324. [PMID: 31745107 PMCID: PMC6864083 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-51974-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 112] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2019] [Accepted: 10/04/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Studying transitions in and out of the altered state of consciousness caused by intravenous (IV) N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT - a fast-acting tryptamine psychedelic) offers a safe and powerful means of advancing knowledge on the neurobiology of conscious states. Here we sought to investigate the effects of IV DMT on the power spectrum and signal diversity of human brain activity (6 female, 7 male) recorded via multivariate EEG, and plot relationships between subjective experience, brain activity and drug plasma concentrations across time. Compared with placebo, DMT markedly reduced oscillatory power in the alpha and beta bands and robustly increased spontaneous signal diversity. Time-referenced and neurophenomenological analyses revealed close relationships between changes in various aspects of subjective experience and changes in brain activity. Importantly, the emergence of oscillatory activity within the delta and theta frequency bands was found to correlate with the peak of the experience - particularly its eyes-closed visual component. These findings highlight marked changes in oscillatory activity and signal diversity with DMT that parallel broad and specific components of the subjective experience, thus advancing our understanding of the neurobiological underpinnings of immersive states of consciousness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher Timmermann
- Centre for Psychedelic Research, Department of Brain Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College, London, UK.
- Computational, Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory (C3NL), Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College, London, UK.
| | - Leor Roseman
- Centre for Psychedelic Research, Department of Brain Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College, London, UK
| | - Michael Schartner
- Department of Basic Neurosciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Raphael Milliere
- Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Luke T J Williams
- Centre for Psychedelic Research, Department of Brain Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College, London, UK
| | - David Erritzoe
- Centre for Psychedelic Research, Department of Brain Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College, London, UK
| | | | - Michael Ashton
- PKDM Unit, Department of Pharmacology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Adam Bendrioua
- PKDM Unit, Department of Pharmacology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Okdeep Kaur
- Imperial Clinical Research Facility, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Samuel Turton
- Centre for Psychiatry, Division of Brain Sciences, Department of Medicine, Imperial College, London, UK
| | - Matthew M Nour
- Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Camilla M Day
- Centre for Psychedelic Research, Department of Brain Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College, London, UK
| | - Robert Leech
- Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - David J Nutt
- Centre for Psychedelic Research, Department of Brain Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College, London, UK
- Centre for Psychiatry, Division of Brain Sciences, Department of Medicine, Imperial College, London, UK
| | - Robin L Carhart-Harris
- Centre for Psychedelic Research, Department of Brain Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College, London, UK
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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