The serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) 2A receptor is most well known as the common target for classic psychedelic compounds. Interestingly, the 5-HT2A receptor is the most widely expressed mammalian serotonin receptor and is found in nearly every examined tissue type including neural, endocrine, endothelial, immune, and muscle, suggesting it could be a novel and pharmacological target for several types of disorders. Despite this, the bulk of research on the 5-HT2A receptor is focused on its role in the central nervous system (CNS). Recently, activation of 5-HT2A receptors has emerged as a new anti-inflammatory strategy. This review will describe recent findings regarding psychedelics as anti-inflammatory compounds, as well as parse out differences in functional selectivity and immune regulation that exist between a number of well-known hallucinogenic compounds.
Keywords: (R)-DOI; Anti-inflammatory; Asthma; Enhanced pause; IL-6; Psilocybin; Psychedellic; Whole-body plethysmography.
© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.