Ibogaine Analog Reverses Effects of Stress in Mice

A non-hallucinogenic analog of the psychedelic drug ibogaine has been found to rapidly reverse the effects of stress in mice, opening the door for a potential treatment of the detrimental impacts on the brain, including anxiety and cognitive inflexibility. The analog, known as tabernanthalog (TBG) was also found to promote the regrowth of neuronal connections and restore disrupted neural circuits.

The study was conducted by researchers at UC Santa Cruz, Stanford University and UC Davis in California. Findings were recently published by the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Two-month-old mice used in the study were subjected to mild, unpredictable stressors over 7 days and then treated with a single low dose of TBG. Researchers found that TBG produced antidepressant effects and reduced addictive behaviors in rodents. Further analysis evaluated behavioral responses to stress and the effects of treatment with TBG, as well brain changes at the neuronal level as assessed by imaging studies.

“It was very surprising that a single treatment with a low dose had such dramatic effects within a day,” corresponding author Yi Zuo, professor of molecular, cell, and developmental biology at UC Santa Cruz, said in a news release.

TBG has yet to be tested for human use, however, in mice it did not induce head-twitch behaviors caused by known hallucinogens.