UC Davis Mouse Study Finds Psilocybin Worsened Postpartum Behaviors and Produced Lasting Offspring Effects

Overview

• In Nature Communications, UC Davis scientists report that a single psilocybin dose intensified anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors in mouse mothers.
• The effects persisted for at least two weeks in treated dams within a validated two-cage social stress model of postpartum mood disturbance.
• Virgin female mice did not exhibit these impairments, pointing to ovarian hormone context and altered serotonergic signaling as key moderators.
• Offspring raised by treated mothers showed long-term anxiety/depression-like behaviors and contained psilocin, indicating likely exposure through lactation.
• The authors urge population-specific safety studies before perinatal use, noting most existing safety data come from male participants and citing NIH, W. M. Keck Foundation, and UC Davis funding.