Microdosing of psychedelics is increasingly popular, but the risks of side effects with long-term use are relatively unstudied. Some researchers have pointed to the possibility of valvular heart disease (VHD), where proliferation of cells in the heart valves leads to valve stiffness and potentially life-threatening complications. However, nobody had yet assessed the risk of this condition with psychedelic microdosing in depth.
In collaboration with the psychedelic startup company Delos Therapeutics, the researchers at Verdient Science addressed this gap by assessing all relevant studies of several psychedelics, including LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, and DMT, in addition to the non-psychedelic MDMA. All five compounds (or a metabolite) were able to bind to and activate the serotonin 5-HT2B receptor, which is a known cause of VHD. In some cases, the plasma concentrations resulting from microdosing were close to the concentration needed for significant activation of the 5-HT2B receptor. However, given the typically intermittent dosing of these compounds, it was impossible to calculate an exact risk for VHD with psychedelic and MDMA microdosing.
This analysis was published in an an article titled “The risk of chronic psychedelic and MDMA microdosing for valvular heart disease” published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.