研究表明，“神奇蘑菇”成分可以用來治療抑郁癥

研究表明，“神奇蘑菇”成分可以用來治療抑郁癥

"Magic mushrooms" may have moved one step closer to becoming a treatment for depression.

“神奇蘑菇”離治療抑郁癥又近了一步。

The active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms is called psilocybin -- and a new British study suggests it could safely be used to treat depression when other drugs have failed, offering hope to millions of patients worldwide.

迷幻蘑菇中的活性成分被稱為裸蓋菇素，一項新的英國研究表明，當(dāng)其他藥物失敗時，裸蓋菇素可以安全地用于治療抑郁癥，這給全世界數(shù)百萬患者帶來了希望。

The study, conducted by King's College London and mental healthcare company Compass Pathways, administered psilocybin to 89 healthy adult volunteers.

這項由倫敦國王學(xué)院和心理保健公司Compass Pathways進(jìn)行的研究，讓89名健康的成年志愿者服用裸蓋菇素。

The study compared the effects of 10mg and 25mg doses of psilocybin, and a placebo.

研究比較了10毫克和25毫克裸蓋菇素與安慰劑的效果。

There were "no serious adverse events" and "no negative effects" on cognitive and emotional function among the volunteers that took psilocybin, according to a Compass Pathways press release. Instead, the volunteers experienced "changes in sensory perception and positive mood alteration" -- typical effects of psychedelic drugs.

Compass Pathways的一份新聞稿稱，服用裸蓋菇素的志愿者在認(rèn)知和情感功能方面“沒有嚴(yán)重的不良事件”，也“沒有負(fù)面影響”。相反，志愿者經(jīng)歷了“感官感知的變化和積極情緒的改變”——典型的迷幻藥效應(yīng)。

"The results of the study are clinically reassuring and support further development of psilocybin as a treatment for patients with mental health problems that haven't improved with conventional therapy, such as treatment resistant depression," said James Rucker, one of the lead researchers from King's College London, in the press release.

倫敦大學(xué)國王學(xué)院的首席研究員詹姆斯·拉克在新聞發(fā)布會上說:“研究結(jié)果在臨床上讓人安心，并支持進(jìn)一步開發(fā)裸蓋菇素，將其用于治療心理健康問題，而傳統(tǒng)療法并沒有改善這些問題，比如難治性抑郁癥。”

This is just the first of two phases in their testing -- the second phase trial will involve over 200 patients with depression across Europe and North America.

這只是他們測試的兩個階段中的第一階段——第二階段的試驗將涉及歐洲和北美的200多名抑郁癥患者。

More than 264 million people worldwide are affected by depression, according to the World Health Organization. The most common pharmaceutical treatment is to take antidepressants like Prozac, which increase levels of serotonin in the brain to improve mood.

根據(jù)世界衛(wèi)生組織的數(shù)據(jù)，全世界有超過2.64億人受到抑郁癥的影響。最常見的藥物治療是服用像百憂解這樣的抗抑郁藥，它能增加大腦中血清素的水平來改善情緒。

But this type of antidepressant doesn't work for everyone, and is generally prescribed as a long-term treatment to maintain effectiveness.

但是這種類型的抗抑郁藥并不是對每個人都有效，通常是作為一種長期治療來保持療效。

By contrast, psychedelic drugs quickly alter our brain function, and could therefore potentially treat patients in just a few doses when combined with therapy, researchers have suggested.

研究人員表示，相比之下，迷幻藥會迅速改變我們的大腦功能，因此，在與治療相結(jié)合時，只需幾劑迷幻藥就可能治愈病人。

Though research remains in the early stages, such a treatment could target a range of mental health conditions, including anxiety, addiction, and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

雖然研究仍處于早期階段，但這樣的治療可以針對一系列的精神健康狀況，包括焦慮、成癮和強(qiáng)迫癥。

Here's how it works: theoretically, psilocybin helps "loosen" the deeply-rooted patterns of thinking and behavior behind many of these mental disorders, according to King's College London.

它是這樣發(fā)揮作用的:根據(jù)倫敦國王學(xué)院的研究，理論上，裸蓋菇素有助于“放松”這些精神障礙背后根深蒂固的思維和行為模式。

It could "relax" the parts of our brain that control these behaviors, thus allowing old patterns to change or fade. Patients who have received psilocybin have changed perspectives on their difficulties, said the university.

它可以“放松”我們大腦中控制這些行為的部分，從而讓舊的模式改變或消失。該大學(xué)表示，接受裸蓋菇素治療的患者改變了他們對困難的看法。

A 2014 Imperial College London study supports this theory. After volunteers were injected with psilocybin, the parts of their brain associated with emotional thinking became more active, while the introspective, self-conscious part of their brain became less active.

2014年倫敦帝國理工學(xué)院的一項研究支持了這一理論。在給志愿者注射了裸蓋菇素后，他們大腦中與情緒思考相關(guān)的部分變得更加活躍，而反省、自我意識的部分變得不那么活躍。

But psilocybin and other pschedelics are likely still a long way to being approved, developed, and rolled out as treatments. Only recently have US cities like Denver and Oakland moved to decriminalize psilocybin; nationwide, it's still listed as a controlled substance, meaning it has no medicinal properties under official US federal policy.

但是，裸蓋菇素和其他致幻劑要被批準(zhǔn)、開發(fā)并作為治療手段推廣，還有很長的路要走。直到最近，像丹佛和奧克蘭這樣的美國城市才開始將裸蓋菇素合法化;在全國范圍內(nèi)，它仍被列為管制物質(zhì)，這意味著根據(jù)美國聯(lián)邦政府的官方政策，它沒有藥用價值。