Banca de DEFESA: MARIA LARA PORPINO DE MEIROZ GRILO

Uma banca de DEFESA de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : MARIA LARA PORPINO DE MEIROZ GRILO
DATE: 08/10/2021
TIME: 14:00
LOCAL: Videoconferência
TITLE:

DOES AYAHUASCA MODULATE RESILIENCE? AN EVALUATION IN PRIMATE MODEL OF MAJOR DEPRESSION

KEY WORDS:

psychedelics; mental health; Callithrix jacchus; prophylaxis; cortisol.

PAGES: 83
BIG AREA: Ciências Humanas
AREA: Psicologia
SUBÁREA: Psicologia Fisiológica
SPECIALTY: Psicobiologia
SUMMARY:

Throughout evolution, the animals have experienced various stress situations, so there is a great variability of stress responses, some adaptive and others not. Major depression (MD) is a psychopathology associated with chronic stress, vulnerability phenotypes, and non-adaptive stress responses. MD is one of the most disabling psychopathologies in the world, and there is still no completely effective treatment for it, thus generating enormous individual, social and economic losses. Thus, using as a basis the theory of stress inoculation which postulates that resilience can be trained, the psychedelics have become the target of research with prophylactic schemes against the emergence of some mental diseases. Ayahuasca (AYA) is a traditional beverage from the Amazon Forest that acts on the serotonergic system, and in addition to psychedelic effects has antidepressant action. Considering that from an economic, social and psychological point of view, treating depression is more expensive than preventing it, this study has evaluated the possible prophylactic effects of prolonged use of ayahuasca against a major depression induction protocol, the social isolation (9 weeks), using a nonhuman primate animal model of depression, C. jacchus. For this, physiological (fecal cortisol) and behavioral evaluations were performed. The animals (19 juvenile males) were divided into 3 groups: Ayahuasca Group (AG), 6 animals received 3-times AYA dosing while undergoing the depression inducing protocol; Stressed Group (SG) 8 animals submitted to the depression inducing protocol without going through the prophylactic scheme; and Family Group (FG), 5 control animals that remained in their families without any experimental scheme. Overall, a more adaptive stress response to AG was observed when compared to SG. The animals treated with AYA showed a fecal cortisol reactivity like FG and higher than EG, therefore they did not present hypocortisolemia, which is frequently induced by this depression-inducing protocol. Also, AG did not show signs of anhedonia and increased behavior indicative of chronic stress, for example: scratching, scent marking and autogrooming, which, on the other hand, were expressed by SG. Thus, the results showed a prophylactic action of AYA in response to a depression inducing protocol, this substance promoted the expression of resilience responses, keeping the response of cortisol in its homeostatic levels and buffered the emergence of depressive phenotypes. Although new studies are needed, this work opens doors to a new type of intervention in mental health field, the prophylactic use of psychedelics to prevent psychopathologies associated to chronic stress.

BANKING MEMBERS:
Interno - 1696755 - BRUNO LOBAO SOARES
Externo à Instituição - JAIME EDUARDO CECILIO HALLAK - USP
Presidente - 1718518 - NICOLE LEITE GALVAO COELHO