Experts have discovered a new way to fight diabetes using mushrooms

Scientists have begun to study whether the substance psilocybin, found in mushrooms, may play a role in the fight against diabetes. According to their preliminary study, published in the journal Genes, psilocybin may help prevent the loss of insulin-producing pancreatic cells.

Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic compound found in certain types of mushrooms. In recent years, experts have begun to recognize its therapeutic potential, especially for mental disorders. However, the crux of the new research lies in the interaction of psilocybin with serotonin receptors in the brain, which are also present in the pancreas. They play a critical role in regulating the production and release of insulin, a process often disrupted in diabetes.

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by high blood sugar levels that can lead to serious health complications over time. The prevalence of diabetes is growing at an alarming rate worldwide, with an estimated 783 million people likely to be affected by it by 2045. Type II diabetes, the most common form of the disease, is closely associated with obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.

“Diabetes and metabolic syndrome affect society, and we were looking for different ways to contribute to the fight against these diseases,” said study author Igor Kovalchuk, professor of biological sciences at the University of Lethbridge. “Because microdosing mushrooms could be a way to treat a variety of conditions, we wanted to test whether their active ingredient, psilocybin, would also have antidiabetic effects.”

Central to the development of diabetes is dysfunction of the beta cells of the pancreas, responsible for the production of insulin.

In their new study, the researchers examined the effects of psilocybin on pancreatic beta cells exposed to high levels of glucose and lipids, a scenario that mimics the metabolic stress seen in diabetes.

“Cultivated in a nutrient-rich medium, cells were treated with psilocybin at a specific concentration, selected based on preliminary results indicating optimal effectiveness. After treatment with psilocybin, the cells were exposed to high-glucose and high-lipid conditions designed to induce the stress and damage typically seen in pancreatic β-cells in people with diabetes,” the researchers report.

They also found that cells treated with psilocybin showed markedly better viability compared to those that did not receive treatment. This result suggests that psilocybin has a protective effect on beta cells, helping to mitigate the detrimental effects of metabolic stress associated with diabetes.

Further analysis provided insight into the mechanisms underlying the protective effects of psilocybin. Using Western blot immunoassays, the study found that psilocybin treatment led to decreased levels of several key biomarkers in beta cells affected by high glucose and lipid levels. Programmed cell death plays a significant role in beta cell loss in diabetes, and psilocybin’s ability to reduce markers associated with this process indicates its potential to preserve cell mass.

“We didn’t expect that psilocybin would have such a good effect on pancreatic cells,” Kovalchuk said.

It turns out that psilocybin also affects the expression of genes associated with beta cell dedifferentiation, which refers to the process by which mature insulin-producing cells revert to a more primitive state and lose their ability to effectively produce insulin.

“The findings provide preliminary evidence that microdosing magic mushrooms is likely to have a positive effect on people with metabolic syndrome (prediabetes) and diabetes,” Kovalchuk told PsyPost.

The researchers also found that psilocybin did not significantly improve impaired glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) under high glucose and lipid conditions. This finding indicates that although psilocybin may protect beta cells from death and dedifferentiation, it may not directly enhance their functional response to glucose in the context of metabolic syndrome or diabetes.

“This study, although groundbreaking in examining the potential therapeutic effects of psilocybin on pancreatic β-cells in the context of diabetes, contains several limitations. The analysis was carried out using a rat insulin cell line, which, although valuable for initial research, does not fully recapitulate the complex physiological and metabolic interactions that occur in living organisms,” explains the biologist.