RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Electrical spiking of psilocybin fungi
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2022.07.02.498545
DO 10.1101/2022.07.02.498545
A1 Antoni Gandia
A1 Andrew Adamatzky
YR 2022
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/07/03/2022.07.02.498545.abstract
AB Psilocybin fungi, aka “magic” mushrooms, are well known for inducing colourful and visionary states of mind. Such psychoactive properties and the ease of cultivating their basidiocarps within low-tech setups make psilocybin fungi promising pharmacological tools for mental health applications. Understanding of the intrinsic electrical patterns occurring during the mycelial growth can be utilised for better monitoring the physiological states and needs of these species. In this study we aimed to shed light on this matter by characterising the extra-cellular electrical potential of two popular species of psilocybin fungi: Psilo-cybe tampanensis and P. cubensis. As in previous experiments with other common edible mushrooms, the undisturbed fungi have shown to generate electric potential spikes and trains of spiking activity. This short analysis provides a proof of intrinsic electrical communication in psilocybin fungi, and further establishes these fungi as a valuable tool for studying fungal electro-physiology.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.