Vigilance state dissociation induced by 5-MeO-DMT in mice

🥉 Top 5% JournalJan 6, 2026Communications biology

5-MeO-DMT may cause mixed waking and sleeping states in mice

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Abstract

An acute induction of a dissociated state was observed, characterized by prominent slow oscillations in the cortex and marked pupil dilation in mice after administration of 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT).

The dissociated state combines features of waking and sleep.
REM sleep was initially suppressed following 5-MeO-DMT administration.
An overcompensation of REM sleep occurred in the 48 hours after treatment.
Sleep slow-wave activity rebound was attenuated when 5-MeO-DMT was given after sleep deprivation.
These findings may relate to the psychological effects of psychedelics, such as hallucinations and increased brain plasticity.

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Psychedelics lead to profound changes in subjective experience and behaviour, which are typically conceptualised in psychological terms rather than corresponding to an altered brain state or a distinct state of vigilance. Here, we performed chronic electrophysiological recordings from the neocortex concomitant with pupillometry in freely moving adult male mice following an injection of a short-acting psychedelic 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT). We report an acute induction of a dissociated state, characterised by prominent slow oscillations in the cortex and marked pupil dilation in behaviourally awake, moving animals. REM sleep was initially markedly suppressed, but was overcompensated in the subsequent 48 hours, while administration of 5-MeO-DMT immediately after sleep deprivation attenuated the subsequent rebound of sleep slow-wave activity. We argue that the occurrence of a dissociated state combining features of waking and sleep may fundamentally underpin the known and hypothesised effects of psychedelics - from dream-like hallucinations to reopening of the critical period for plasticity.

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