Scientists Messed Around With LSD and Invented a New Brain-Healing Drug

Researchers at UC Davis have fiddled with LSD at the atomic level and may have unlocked a potential game-changing treatment for schizophrenia. The new compound, known as JRT, might be able to repair the brain without making you trip balls.

The scientists, who posted their findings in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, were toying with LSD atoms when they decided to, in their own words, do a “tire rotation.” This meant swapping the position of two atoms in LSD’s molecular structure.

That tiny change turned it from a powerful hallucinogen into something that can regrow brain cells in mice and mend neural pathways without launching your consciousness into the cosmos.

JRT managed to reduce the negative symptoms of schizophrenia in mice, like cognitive fog and social withdrawal, without triggering the kind of psychosis you really don’t want in people already dealing with psychosis.

UC Davis chem professor David Olson said JRT could eventually offer a safer, more targeted alternative to current meds like clozapine, which come with side effects like emotional numbness and cognitive decline. This comes after it’s been shown that LSD might also help with anxiety.

Even wilder: JRT also worked as a potent antidepressant in mice, proving to be 100 times more powerful than ketamine at a fraction of the dose. Of course, no one’s handing out JRT prescriptions yet. Olson and his team are still testing the compound in other disease models and refining its synthesis. But the early signs are promising.

Psychedelics might be the scaffolding we use to build the next generation of mental health treatments, and you won’t have to worry about seeing a demon’s face in a carpet pattern just to get better — and all because they moved around two little atoms.

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