The term intimate partner violence (IPV) refers to physical, sexual or psychological abuse perpetrated by an individual on their romantic partner or spouse. Victims of IPV who are violently attacked and physically abused on a regular basis can sometimes present injuries that have lasting consequences on their mood, mental processes and behavior.
Common types of injuries observed in IPV victims who are periodically attacked physically include mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) and disruptions in the flow of blood or oxygen to the brain emerging from non-fatal strangulation (NFS). Both these have been linked to inflammation in the brain and a hindered ability to form new connections between neurons or change older connections (i.e., neuroplasticity).
Researchers at Monash University, Vancouver Island University and University of Victoria recently carried out a study involving rats aimed at assessing the potential of the psychedelic compound psilocybin for reversing the chronic effects of IPV-related brain injuries. Their findings, published in Molecular Psychiatry, suggest that psilocybin could in fact reduce inflammation and anxiety, improve memory and facilitate learning following brain injuries caused by repeated physical trauma.
“Chronic neurobehavioral sequelae from IPV-BI are associated with neuroinflammation and impaired neuroplasticity, and effective treatment options are scarce, particularly in the context of IPV,” wrote Josh Allen, Mujun Sun and their colleagues in their paper.
“However, psilocybin, a 5-HT2A receptor agonist with therapeutic potential in psychiatric disorders that share overlapping pathophysiology as BI, is a promising candidate. This study evaluated psilocybin’s effects on behavior, cognition, and neurobiology in a novel rat model of recurrent IPV-BI.”
A new rat model of IPV-related brain injury
As the majority of IPV victims are female, Allen, Sun and their colleagues performed their experiments on female rats. To model IPV-related brain injuries, they subjected the rats to mild injuries that mirrored those observed in many victims of IPV.
“Female rats underwent daily mTBI (lateral impact) followed by NFS (90 s) for five days, followed by 16 weeks of recovery,” the authors explained.
Four months after the rats had been subjected to the injuries, they were either given a dose of psilocybin or a placebo (i.e., saline water) injection. 24 hours later they completed behavioral tasks designed to assess their memory, learning, motivation and anxiety levels.
Psilocybin is known to activate 5-HT2A receptors, a subtype of serotonin receptor that are known to play a role in the regulation of mood, mental processes and the brain’s adaptability (i.e., plasticity). Using a drug that can block the activity of 5-HT2A receptors, the researchers also tried to determine whether these receptors played a key role in any effects they observed.
“To investigate whether psilocybin’s effects were 5-HT2A receptor dependent, additional rats received pre-treatment with selective 5-HT2A receptor antagonist M100907 (1.5 mg/kg) one hour before psilocybin administration,” wrote the authors.
A possible route for easing IPV recovery
Overall, the results of this research team’s experiments suggest that psilocybin could help to reverse some of the behavioral, cognitive and brain-related damage caused by repeated physical attacks. The female rats they tested were found to exhibit less anxiety-like and depression-like behaviors after they received psilocybin, while also performing better in memory and learning tests.
“Psilocybin recovered mTBI+NFS-induced abnormalities in the elevated plus-maze, increased sucrose preference when administered without M100907, and improved reversal learning in the water maze and spatial memory in the Y-maze,” wrote the authors. “In the dorsal hippocampus, mTBI+NFS rats treated with saline, but not those treated with psilocybin, exhibited an increased number of microglial cells in the molecular layer and fewer reelin-positive cells in the subgranular zone.”
As this study was carried out in rats, its findings cannot be confidently applied to humans yet. In the future, human clinical trials could help to determine whether psilocybin is in fact a safe and effective therapeutic strategy to aid recovery from IPV-related brain injuries.
“These findings suggest psilocybin’s antidepressant, pro-cognitive, anti-inflammatory, and neuroplasticity-enhancing effects hold promise for improving chronic IPV-BI outcomes and highlight the critical role of 5-HT2A receptors in mediating psilocybin’s therapeutic benefits,” wrote Allen, Sun and their colleagues.
Written for you by our author Ingrid Fadelli, edited by Gaby Clark, and fact-checked and reviewed by Robert Egan—this article is the result of careful human work. We rely on readers like you to keep independent science journalism alive.
If this reporting matters to you,
please consider a donation (especially monthly).
You’ll get an ad-free account as a thank-you.
More information:
Josh Allen et al, Psilocybin mitigates chronic behavioral and neurobiological alterations in a rat model of recurrent intimate partner violence-related brain injury, Molecular Psychiatry (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41380-025-03329-x.
© 2025 Science X Network
Citation:
Psilocybin could reverse effects of brain injuries resulting from intimate partner violence, rat study finds (2025, November 18)
retrieved 18 November 2025
from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-psilocybin-reverse-effects-brain-injuries.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
The term intimate partner violence (IPV) refers to physical, sexual or psychological abuse perpetrated by an individual on their romantic partner or spouse. Victims of IPV who are violently attacked and physically abused on a regular basis can sometimes present injuries that have lasting consequences on their mood, mental processes and behavior.
Common types of injuries observed in IPV victims who are periodically attacked physically include mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) and disruptions in the flow of blood or oxygen to the brain emerging from non-fatal strangulation (NFS). Both these have been linked to inflammation in the brain and a hindered ability to form new connections between neurons or change older connections (i.e., neuroplasticity).
Researchers at Monash University, Vancouver Island University and University of Victoria recently carried out a study involving rats aimed at assessing the potential of the psychedelic compound psilocybin for reversing the chronic effects of IPV-related brain injuries. Their findings, published in Molecular Psychiatry, suggest that psilocybin could in fact reduce inflammation and anxiety, improve memory and facilitate learning following brain injuries caused by repeated physical trauma.
“Chronic neurobehavioral sequelae from IPV-BI are associated with neuroinflammation and impaired neuroplasticity, and effective treatment options are scarce, particularly in the context of IPV,” wrote Josh Allen, Mujun Sun and their colleagues in their paper.
“However, psilocybin, a 5-HT2A receptor agonist with therapeutic potential in psychiatric disorders that share overlapping pathophysiology as BI, is a promising candidate. This study evaluated psilocybin’s effects on behavior, cognition, and neurobiology in a novel rat model of recurrent IPV-BI.”
A new rat model of IPV-related brain injury
As the majority of IPV victims are female, Allen, Sun and their colleagues performed their experiments on female rats. To model IPV-related brain injuries, they subjected the rats to mild injuries that mirrored those observed in many victims of IPV.
“Female rats underwent daily mTBI (lateral impact) followed by NFS (90 s) for five days, followed by 16 weeks of recovery,” the authors explained.
Four months after the rats had been subjected to the injuries, they were either given a dose of psilocybin or a placebo (i.e., saline water) injection. 24 hours later they completed behavioral tasks designed to assess their memory, learning, motivation and anxiety levels.
Psilocybin is known to activate 5-HT2A receptors, a subtype of serotonin receptor that are known to play a role in the regulation of mood, mental processes and the brain’s adaptability (i.e., plasticity). Using a drug that can block the activity of 5-HT2A receptors, the researchers also tried to determine whether these receptors played a key role in any effects they observed.
“To investigate whether psilocybin’s effects were 5-HT2A receptor dependent, additional rats received pre-treatment with selective 5-HT2A receptor antagonist M100907 (1.5 mg/kg) one hour before psilocybin administration,” wrote the authors.
A possible route for easing IPV recovery
Overall, the results of this research team’s experiments suggest that psilocybin could help to reverse some of the behavioral, cognitive and brain-related damage caused by repeated physical attacks. The female rats they tested were found to exhibit less anxiety-like and depression-like behaviors after they received psilocybin, while also performing better in memory and learning tests.
“Psilocybin recovered mTBI+NFS-induced abnormalities in the elevated plus-maze, increased sucrose preference when administered without M100907, and improved reversal learning in the water maze and spatial memory in the Y-maze,” wrote the authors. “In the dorsal hippocampus, mTBI+NFS rats treated with saline, but not those treated with psilocybin, exhibited an increased number of microglial cells in the molecular layer and fewer reelin-positive cells in the subgranular zone.”
As this study was carried out in rats, its findings cannot be confidently applied to humans yet. In the future, human clinical trials could help to determine whether psilocybin is in fact a safe and effective therapeutic strategy to aid recovery from IPV-related brain injuries.
“These findings suggest psilocybin’s antidepressant, pro-cognitive, anti-inflammatory, and neuroplasticity-enhancing effects hold promise for improving chronic IPV-BI outcomes and highlight the critical role of 5-HT2A receptors in mediating psilocybin’s therapeutic benefits,” wrote Allen, Sun and their colleagues.
Written for you by our author Ingrid Fadelli, edited by Gaby Clark, and fact-checked and reviewed by Robert Egan—this article is the result of careful human work. We rely on readers like you to keep independent science journalism alive.
If this reporting matters to you,
please consider a donation (especially monthly).
You’ll get an ad-free account as a thank-you.
More information:
Josh Allen et al, Psilocybin mitigates chronic behavioral and neurobiological alterations in a rat model of recurrent intimate partner violence-related brain injury, Molecular Psychiatry (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41380-025-03329-x.
© 2025 Science X Network
Citation:
Psilocybin could reverse effects of brain injuries resulting from intimate partner violence, rat study finds (2025, November 18)
retrieved 18 November 2025
from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-psilocybin-reverse-effects-brain-injuries.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
