Lysergic acid diethylamide reverses aging- and neurodegeneration-associated brain transcriptional programs
bioRxiv May 29, 2026 Aurora Savino, Carla Liaci, Ilaria Bertani et al.
LSD induces gene expression patterns that oppose the transcriptional signatures of brain aging and dementia. By comparing chronic LSD treatment in rodents with age- and dementia-related gene expression changes in the human prefrontal cortex, the authors show that LSD's effects are strongly anti-correlated with these disease programs, a reversal specific compared to other pharmacological perturbations and reproducible across datasets and species. LSD also counteracts amyloid-β-induced structural and molecular alterations in primary cortical neurons, linking transcriptomic opposition to functional rescue under neurodegenerative stress. These findings suggest LSD modulates molecular and cellular pathways associated with brain aging and neurodegeneration.