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Psychedelics may improve mental health by getting inside nerve cells

What matters is on the inside — of neurons

A microscope image of a nerve cell with colors highlighting special receptors.

Psychedelic chemical compounds like LSD activate special receptors (highlighted with colors in this microscope image) located inside nerve cells, causing the neurons to grow.

David Olson/UC Davis

By McKenzie Prillaman

Psychedelics go beneath the cell surface to unleash their potentially therapeutic effects.

These drugs are showing promise in clinical trials as treatments for mental health disorders (SN: 12/3/21). Now, scientists might know why.