Drugs & Medications

Ventral Capsule DBS Reduced Severe OCD Symptoms by 60%

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Ventral Capsule DBS Reduced Severe OCD Symptoms by 60%

TL;DR: A 2026 medRxiv preprint reported that ventral capsule deep brain stimulation (DBS), an implanted brain-stimulation treatment, reduced severe treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms by 22 Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) points on average in 10 participants. Key Findings 10 severe OCD patients: Researchers implanted bilateral ventral internal capsule DBS leads in participants with intractable obsessive-compulsive …

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Psilocybin Suppressed SST Interneurons Through 5-HT1A Signaling

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Psilocybin Suppressed SST Interneurons Through 5-HT1A Signaling

TL;DR: A 2026 mouse preprint in bioRxiv found that psilocybin reduced firing in somatostatin (SST) interneurons, inhibitory cortical cells that gate dendritic input, while increasing parvalbumin (PV) interneuron firing in the medial frontal cortex. Key Findings SST firing decreased: Opto-tagged SST interneurons fell from 5.5 to 3.7 Hz after psilocybin, while saline did not produce …

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GLP-1 Agonists Showed Dose-Specific ON-Medication Motor Effects in Parkinson’s Disease

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GLP-1 Agonists Showed Dose-Specific ON-Medication Motor Effects in Parkinson's Disease

TL;DR: A 2026 systematic review and exploratory network meta-analysis of 5 randomized trials in Neurological Sciences found dose-specific ON-medication motor improvements, measured while usual Parkinson’s drugs were active, for some GLP-1 receptor agonists, glucose-related metabolic hormone drugs, in Parkinson’s disease, but broader motor, non-motor, and quality-of-life evidence remained limited. Key Findings 5 randomized trials: The …

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Antipsychotic D2 Blockade May Disturb Pancreatic Insulin Secretion

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Antipsychotic D2 Blockade May Disturb Pancreatic Insulin Secretion

TL;DR: A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis in Neuropsychopharmacology found that dopamine D2-like receptor activation suppressed glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS), insulin release after high glucose, in animal pancreatic cells, suggesting one peripheral route by which antipsychotic dopamine blockade can disturb glucose control beyond weight gain. Key Findings 39 eligible studies: Researchers screened 12,457 citations and …

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25C-NBF, a Selective 5-HT2A Phenethylamine, Reduced Despair and Restored Sucrose Preference in Male Mice

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25C-NBF, a Selective 5-HT2A Phenethylamine, Reduced Despair and Restored Sucrose Preference in Male Mice

TL;DR: A 2026 mouse and rat study in Molecular Psychiatry reported that 25C-NBF, a selective serotonin 2A receptor agonist from the 2C-X phenethylamine series, produced rapid antidepressant-like effects, increased dendritic spines and Bdnf expression in the prefrontal cortex, and showed no rewarding or reinforcing properties at the tested doses. Key Findings Despair behavior fell after …

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Early Antidepressant Treatment Linked to Higher Negative Affect and Impulsivity in Bipolar Euthymia

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Early Antidepressant Treatment Linked to Higher Negative Affect and Impulsivity in Bipolar Euthymia

TL;DR: A 2026 cross-sectional study in PLOS One found that euthymic bipolar disorder patients with early systematic antidepressant treatment had higher negative affect and higher attentional, non-planning, and total impulsivity scores than matched patients without that early antidepressant history. Key Findings 124 bipolar patients studied: Researchers compared 62 patients with early systematic antidepressant treatment and …

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Dexamethasone Disrupted Mouse Sleep Through Orexin Activation

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Dexamethasone Disrupted Mouse Sleep Through Orexin Activation

TL;DR: A 2026 mouse study in Psychopharmacology found that repeated dexamethasone, a synthetic glucocorticoid steroid, disrupted light-phase sleep and increased orexin-neuron activity, a wake-promoting hypothalamic signal, during sleep-to-wake transitions. Key Findings 5-day steroid model: Male C57BL/6J mice received dexamethasone at 30 mg/kg for 5 days before 24-hour sleep recording. Light-phase sleep was disrupted: Dexamethasone increased …

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CBT-I Plus Medication Improved Chronic Insomnia More Than Medication Alone

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CBT-I Plus Medication Improved Chronic Insomnia More Than Medication Alone

TL;DR: A 2026 systematic review in Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), a structured behavioral sleep treatment, plus sleep medication improved chronic insomnia more than medication alone, but adding medication to CBT-I did not improve the critical insomnia outcomes. Key Findings 15 analyzable articles: Researchers screened 1,179 articles, …

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BIOMEDE Trial Found No Survival Gain From Targeted Drugs in DIPG

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BIOMEDE Trial Found No Survival Gain From Targeted Drugs in DIPG

TL;DR: A 2026 randomized phase 2 trial in Nature Medicine found that three targeted drugs added to radiotherapy did not improve overall survival for children with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a lethal brainstem tumor, although everolimus caused fewer treatment-stopping side effects. Key Findings 233 randomized patients: BIOMEDE assigned 36 children to erlotinib, 102 to …

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Oral Arginine Reduced Amyloid-Beta Pathology in Two Mouse Models of Alzheimer’s Disease

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Oral Arginine Reduced Amyloid-Beta Pathology in Two Mouse Models of Alzheimer's Disease

TL;DR: A 2025 study in Neurochemistry International from Kindai University showed that oral arginine, a naturally occurring amino acid, blocked the formation of toxic amyloid-beta aggregates in lab tests and reduced amyloid pathology in two well-established mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease — with the authors flagging that the research-grade doses and methods are not equivalent …

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