
David J NuttImperial College London | Imperial · Division of Brain Sciences
David J Nutt
DM FRCP FRCPsych FSB FMedSci
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1,418
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Introduction
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- Professor
Publications
Publications (1,418)
There is an increasing awareness of the link between chronic alcohol consumption and the development of cognitive, behavioural and functional deficits. Currently, preventative strategies are limited and require engagement in dedicated long-term rehabilitation and sobriety services, the availability of which is low. The acute alcohol withdrawal synd...
Background:
Clinicians in the field of drug addiction have started to exploit the growth of Technology-Based Interventions (TBIs). However, there is little information on how health personnel evaluate them.
Methods:
Semi-structured interviews were conducted among 20 European experts.
Results:
All of the interviewees recognised TBIs as a valuab...
The discovery of genetic variants influencing sleep patterns can shed light on the physiological processes underlying sleep. As part of a large clinical sequencing project, WGS500, we sequenced a family in which the two male children had severe developmental delay and a dramatically disturbed sleep-wake cycle, with very long wake and sleep duration...
Buprenorphine/naloxone, methadone and lofexidine are medications with utility in the treatment of opiate withdrawal. We report the first randomised controlled trial to compare the effects of these two medications on withdrawal symptoms and outcome during opiate induction/stabilisation and detoxification. A double-blind randomised controlled trial w...
Objective: To identify patients’ perceptions of the value of psilocybin as a treatment for depression. Method: Twenty patients enrolled in an open-label trial of psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression participated in a semistructured interview at 6-month follow-up. Thematic analysis was used to identify patients’ experiences of the treatment...
Neuropsychopharmacology, the official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, publishing the highest quality original research and advancing our understanding of the brain and behavior.
Objective:
Reliable data on cannabis quantities is required to improve assessment of cannabis consumption for epidemiological analysis and clinical assessment, consequently a Standard Joint Unit (SJU) based on quantity of 9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (9-THC) has been established.
Methodology:
Naturalistic study of a convenience sample recruited from F...
Naltrexone, an opioid receptor antagonist, is commonly used as a relapse prevention medication in alcohol and opiate addiction, but its efficacy and the mechanisms underpinning its clinical usefulness are not well characterized. In the current study, we examined the effects of 50-mg naltrexone compared with placebo on neural network changes associa...
Evidence suggests that disturbances in neurobiological mechanisms of reward and inhibitory control maintain addiction and provoke relapse during abstinence. Abnormalities within the dopamine system may contribute to these disturbances and pharmacologically targeting the D3 dopamine receptor (DRD3) is therefore of significant clinical interest. We u...
Naltrexone is an opioid receptor antagonist used in the management of alcohol dependence. Although the endogenous opioid system has been implicated in emotion regulation, the effects of mu-opioid receptor blockade on brain systems underlying negative emotional processing are not clear in addiction. Individuals meeting criteria for alcohol dependenc...
Naltrexone is an opioid receptor antagonist used in the management of alcohol dependence. Although the endogenous opioid system has been implicated in emotion regulation, the effects of mu-opioid receptor blockade on brain systems underlying negative emotional processing are not clear in addiction. Individuals meeting criteria for alcohol dependenc...
Psychedelic drugs have been used as treatments in indigenous cultures for thousands of years. Yet, due to their legal status, there has been limited scientific research into the therapeutic potential of these compounds for psychiatric disorders. In the absence of other effective treatments however, researchers have begun again to systematically inv...
Recent work with noninvasive human brain imaging has started to investigate the effects of 3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) on large-scale patterns of brain activity. MDMA, a potent monoamine-releaser with particularly pronounced serotonin- releasing properties, has unique subjective effects that include: marked positive mood, pleasant/unu...
Naltrexone, an opioid receptor antagonist, is commonly used as a relapse prevention medication in alcohol and opiate addiction, but its efficacy and the mechanisms underpinning its clinical usefulness are not well characterized. In the current study, we examined the effects of 50-mg naltrexone compared with placebo on neural network changes associa...
Background:
Nalmefene is a µ- and δ-opioid receptor antagonist, κ-opioid receptor partial agonist that has recently been approved in Europe for treating alcohol dependence. It offers a treatment approach for alcohol-dependent individuals with "high-risk drinking levels" to reduce their alcohol consumption. However, the neurobiological mechanism un...
Cue reactivity is an established procedure in addictions research for examining the subjective experience and neural basis of craving. This experiment sought to quantify cue-related brain responses in gambling disorder using personally tailored cues in conjunction with subjective craving, as well as a comparison with appetitive non-gambling stimuli...
Cue reactivity is an established procedure in addictions research for examining the subjective experience and neural basis of craving. This experiment sought to quantify cue-related brain responses in Gambling Disorder using personally tailored cues in conjunction with subjective craving, as well as a comparison with appetitive non-gambling stimuli...
Evidence suggests that disturbances in neurobiological mechanisms of reward and inhibitory control maintain addiction and provoke relapse during abstinence. Abnormalities within the dopamine system may contribute to these disturbances and pharmacologically targeting the D3 dopamine receptor (DRD3) is therefore of significant clinical interest. We u...
The nomenclature of drugs is a critical aspect of science, since it can direct research and optimize treatment choices. Traditionally drugs acting on CNS receptors have been classified as either agonists or antagonists. Recently a new class of ligand, the inverse agonist, has been identified in some receptor systems. Inverse agonists have opposite...
Supporting Information Figures.
Non-linear registration is an essential part of modern neuroimaging analysis, from morphometrics to functional studies. To be practical, non-linear registration methods must be precise and computational efficient. Current algorithms based on Thirion’s demons achieve high accuracies while having desirable properties such as diffeomorphic deformation...
Objectives
We aimed to set up a robust multi-centre clinical fMRI and neuropsychological platform to investigate the neuropharmacology of brain processes relevant to addiction ? reward, impulsivity and emotional reactivity. Here we provide an overview of the fMRI battery, carried out across three centres, characterizing neuronal response to the tas...
RationaleAnecdotally, both acute and chronic cannabis use have been associated with apathy, amotivation, and other reward processing deficits. To date, empirical support for these effects is limited, and no previous studies have assessed both acute effects of Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), as well as associations with cannabi...
As a behavioural addiction, gambling disorder (GD) provides an opportunity to characterize addictive processes without the potentially confounding effects of chronic excessive drug and alcohol exposure. Impulsivity is an established precursor to such addictive behaviours, and GD is associated with greater impulsivity. There is also evidence of GABA...
There is a concerted research effort to investigate brain mechanisms underlying addiction processes that may predicate the development of new compounds for treating addiction. One target is the brain's opioid system, because of its role in the reinforcing effects of substances of abuse. Substance-dependent populations have increased numbers of the...
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is a classic psychedelic drug that alters cognition in a characteristic way. It has been suggested that psychedelics expand the breadth of cognition via actions on the central nervous system. Previous work has shown changes in semantic processing under psilocybin (a related psychedelic to LSD) that are consistent wi...
Objective: Biomarkers are defined as anatomical, biochemical or physiological traits that are specific to certain disorders or syndromes. The objective of this paper is to summarise the current knowledge of biomarkers for anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Methods: Findings in biomarker...
{\bf Objective:}$ Biomarkers are defined as anatomical, biochemical or physiological traits that are specific to certain disorders or syndromes. The objective of this paper is to summarise the current knowledge of biomarkers for anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). ${\bf Methods:}$ Finding...
Objectives:
Biomarkers are defined as anatomical, biochemical or physiological traits that are specific to certain disorders or syndromes. The objective of this paper is to summarise the current knowledge of biomarkers for anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Methods:
Findings in bioma...
The reasons for variability in treatment response in major depressive disorder (MDD) are not fully understood, but there is accumulating evidence suggesting that therapeutic outcomes of antidepressants can be influenced by genetic factors. In the present study we applied the microarray Illumina platform for whole genome expression profiling in depr...
Background and aims:
Performance on cognitive tasks may be sensitive to acute smoking abstinence and may also predict whether quit attempts fail. Our aim was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify cognitive tasks sensitive to acute abstinence and predictive of smoking cessation success.
Methods:
Embase, Medline, PsycInfo an...
The 2002 paper "Does 5-HT restrain panic? A tryptophan depletion study in panic disorder patients recovered on paroxetine" by Bell and colleagues - reprinted in this issue of the Journal - reports on a study undertaken in the halcyon days of David Nutt's Psychopharmacology Unit at the University of Bristol, England. In this invited commentary autho...
Objective:
There is evidence that mood disorders are associated with impaired parasympathetic nervous system function and consequently increased morbidity and mortality. Our study addresses whether this impairment persists into remission in unipolar and bipolar disorders.
Methods:
Heart Rate Variability was measured in groups of subjects during...
Aims: The experience of a compromised sense of “self”, termed ego-dissolution, is a key feature of the psychedelic experience. This study aimed to validate the Ego-Dissolution Inventory (EDI), a new 8-item self-report scale designed to measure ego-dissolution. Additionally, we aimed to investigate the specificity of the relationship between psyched...
The frequency of visual gamma oscillations is determined by both the neuronal excitation-inhibition balance and the time constants of GABAergic processes. The gamma peak frequency has been linked to sensory processing, cognitive function, cortical structure, and may have a genetic contribution. To disentangle the intricate relationship among these...
Supplementary material
The question of how spatially organized activity in the visual cortex behaves during eyes-closed, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)-induced “psychedelic imagery” (e.g., visions of geometric patterns and more complex phenomena) has never been empirically addressed, although it has been proposed that under psychedelics, with eyes-closed, the brain may...
Personality is known to be relatively stable throughout adulthood. Nevertheless, it has been shown that major life events with high personal significance, including experiences engendered by psychedelic drugs, can have an enduring impact on some core facets of personality. In the present, balanced-order, placebo-controlled study, we investigated bi...
The off-label use of medicines for children and adolescents remains a common and important issue for prescribing practice across child and adolescent psychiatry, paediatrics and primary care. This editorial focusses on psychotropic drug treatment, which plays an essential part in the comprehensive management of a range of child and adolescent psych...
Background:
Psilocybin is a serotonin receptor agonist that occurs naturally in some mushroom species. Recent studies have assessed the therapeutic potential of psilocybin for various conditions, including end-of-life anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and smoking and alcohol dependence, with promising preliminary results. Here, we aimed to i...
The question of how spatially organized activity in the visual cortex behaves during eyes-closed, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)-induced "psychedelic imagery" (e.g., visions of geometric patterns and more complex phenomena) has never been empirically addressed, although it has been proposed that under psychedelics, with eyes-closed, the brain may...
Significance
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), the prototypical “psychedelic,” may be unique among psychoactive substances. In the decades that followed its discovery, the magnitude of its effect on science, the arts, and society was unprecedented. LSD produces profound, sometimes life-changing experiences in microgram doses, making it a particular...
Rationale
Dependence on drugs and alcohol is associated with impaired impulse control, but deficits are rarely compared across individuals dependent on different substances using several measures within a single study.
Objectives
We investigated impulsivity in abstinent substance-dependent individuals (AbD) using three complementary techniques: sel...
This paper reports on the effects of LSD on mental time travel during spontaneous mentation. Twenty healthy volunteers participated in a placebo-controlled crossover study, incorporating intravenous administration of LSD (75 μg) and placebo (saline) prior to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Six independent, blind judges analysed mentat...
Psychedelic drugs such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) were used extensively in psychiatry in the past and their therapeutic potential is beginning to be re-examined today. Psychedelic psychotherapy typically involves a patient lying with their eyes-closed during peak drug effects, while listening to music and being supervised by trained psycho...
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is a non-selective serotonin-receptor agonist that was first synthesized in 1938 and identified as (potently) psychoactive in 1943. Psychedelics have been used by indigenous cultures for millennia [1]; however, because of LSD's unique potency and the timing of its discovery (coinciding with a period of major discove...
The current rise in the prevalence of magnetic resonance spectroscopy experiments to measure γ-aminobutyric acid in the living human brain is an exciting and productive area of research. As research spreads into clinical populations and cognitive research, it is important to fully understand the source of the magnetic resonance spectroscopy signal...
Microglial activation has been linked with deficits in neuronal function and synaptic plasticity in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The mitochondrial translocator protein (TSPO) is known to be upregulated in reactive microglia. Accurate visualization and quantification of microglial density by PET imaging using the TSPO tracer [(11) C]-R-PK11195 has been...
Background:
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is a potent serotonergic hallucinogen or psychedelic that modulates consciousness in a marked and novel way. This study sought to examine the acute and mid-term psychological effects of LSD in a controlled study.
Method:
A total of 20 healthy volunteers participated in this within-subjects study. Part...