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Frontier mental health research: psychedelics & drug studies

Each month our editorial team sifts through hundreds of papers and curates notable findings—for practitioners and informed readers who want to stay current with the evidence. Subscribe to the monthly Research Digest for expert analysis and concise summaries of key papers.

Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior Gene

1 paper

Socially-induced brain ‘fertilization’: play promotes brain derived neurotrophic factor transcription in the amygdala and dorsolateral frontal cortex in juvenile rats

Nakia S. Gordon, Sharon Burke, Huda Akil, Stanley J. Watson, Jaak Panksepp
Neuroscience Letters Summary & key facts 2003 108 citations

Researchers studied 32-day-old juvenile rats that were allowed 30 minutes of rough-and-tumble play. Right after play, the rats showed higher levels of BDNF messenger RNA in the amygdala and dorsolateral frontal cortex, measured with in situ hybridization. The authors suggested this could mean play helps shape brain areas tied to…

Autism Spectrum Disorder Research Child Development and Digital Technology Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
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