BetterLife Pharma Inc (CSE:BETR, OTCQB:BETRF) said it has obtained positive results from a preclinical neural plasticity study of BETR-001 in cortical rat neurons, as part of its collaboration with the laboratory of Dr Argel Aguilar-Valles at Carleton University's Department of Neuroscience.
BETR-001 (2-bromo-LSD, formerly TD-0148A) is a non-hallucinogenic derivative of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). The company is studying the LSD analog for its potential to treat depression.
"We are very pleased with these preclinical results as they confirm that BETR-001, an LSD analog, retained the anti-depressant and neural plasticity activity of LSD but without causing hallucination,” said BetterLife CEO Dr. Ahmad Doroudian in a statement.
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“This is the first evidence that BETR-001 can promote structural plasticity in the prefrontal cortex neurons and gives us confidence on its therapeutic potential in depression and related disorders,” Dr. Doroudian added.
The company noted that atrophy of neurons in the brain plays a critical role in pathophysiology of depression and related disorders. Increased structural plasticity in the brain neurons (mainly prefrontal cortex) has been linked to the sustained antidepressant effects of ketamine and other psychedelic compounds.
BetterLife said it has shown the anti-depressant properties of BETR-001 in a rodent chronic variable stress model. The current study demonstrates that treatment of rat embryonic cortical neurons with BETR-001 increases the structural complexity of neurons (dendrite growth and complexity) and thus provides evidence of neural plasticity activity of BETR-001.
In certain measurements of structural plasticity in neurons, BETR-001 performs better than ketamine in this model, the BetterLife added.
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