Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimagingFeb 13, 2026

Brain activity linked to ibogaine use in military veterans

Psychedelic Science Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Feb 15, 2026

Abstract

Ibogaine treatment resulted in significant increases in regional cerebral blood flow in the left insula and left anterior cingulate cortex among 30 male Special Operations Forces veterans.

Gradual increases in regional cerebral blood flow were observed in cortical, limbic, and striatal areas after ibogaine treatment.
Changes in functional connectivity were noted across various brain networks following treatment.
Improvements in traumatic brain injury-related disability symptoms correlated with changes in blood flow in specific brain regions.
Widespread reorganization of brain functional connections may occur as a result of ibogaine treatment.
Persisting changes in metabolic activity in paralimbic regions could be associated with the therapeutic effects of ibogaine.

Simplified

BACKGROUND: Ibogaine was recently found to result in significant functional improvements in treating the sequelae of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among Special Operations Forces veterans (SOVs). In the present article, we use multimodal neuroimaging to elucidate the neural correlates of ibogaine in 30 male SOVs who received ibogaine treatment.

METHODS: Arterial spin labeling and blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected before, immediately after ibogaine treatment, and at 1-month follow-up. A whole-brain exploratory analysis was conducted to examine the effects of ibogaine on resting-state regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and functional connectivity.

RESULTS: The results revealed gradual increases in rCBF in the cortical, limbic, and striatal subregions, and changes in functional connectivity across a wide range of functional networks. The magnitude of treatment-induced rCBF changes in the left insula and left anterior cingulate cortex correlated significantly with improvements in TBI-related disability symptoms.

CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that ibogaine may involve widespread reorganization of functional connections in the brain, and that persisting regional changes in metabolic activity after ibogaine treatment, particularly within paralimbic brain regions, might be related to the observed therapeutic effects of ibogaine. Our findings serve to generate future hypotheses for larger, controlled neuroimaging studies of ibogaine in humans, necessary to validate these initial findings.

Full Text

Full text is available at the source.

View Full Text ↗

Brain activity linked to ibogaine use in military veterans

Abstract

Full Text

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the psychedelic science brief

Abstract

Full Text

Related papers

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the psychedelic science brief