Psilocybin Being Investigated as an Anti-Aging Agent

By Deborah Borfitz

September 3, 2025 | A large segment of the population holds negative views towards psychedelics, even in therapeutic contexts. Up until a few years ago, those people included Kosuke Kato, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. 

His perspective changed when he and Louise Hecker, Ph.D., then working at Emory University, began reading up on the experimental use of psilocybin—the naturally occurring psychedelic compound produced by hallucinogenic mushrooms—in treating various psychiatric and age-related neurodegenerative diseases. Their scientific curiosity was sparked by a seemingly simple question from Hecker’s friend at the gym about why psilocybin has such profound, long-lasting effects.  

Hecker was particularly enamored with the hypothesis that it was related to psilocybin’s ability to preserve the length of telomeres, the structured ends of a chromosome thought to protect it from damage that can lead to a range of clinical indications. Short telomeres have been linked to increased risk and progression of conditions ranging from cardiovascular disease and neurodegenerative disorders to cancer, where aging is a significant risk factor of them. 

The underlying molecular mechanisms of psilocybin remain a mystery, and few studies have explored its systemic impacts. But Kato and Hecker have just made discoveries of potentially far-reaching consequences by showing that psilocin, the active metabolite of psilocybin, extends cellular lifespan, and psilocybin treatment promotes increased survival in aged mice (npj Aging, DOI: 10.1038/s41514-025-00244-x). 

It is believed to be the first-ever in vivo study of psilocybin as a geroprotective agent, Kato says, and was funded by Emory University. Their previous work was focused on the age-associated mechanisms contributing to lung disease.  

The news of a psychedelic potentially delaying aging struck a chord in and beyond the scientific community. Only a month after being posted online, the study received over 180,000 views and coverage in over 100 news outlets, says Kato. Among the 29 million papers being tracked by Altmetric, their study is already in the top 0.04% in terms of online traffic.  

The search is now on for partners to help commercialize the discoveries for specific organs and help “dissect out the mechanisms” responsible for the beneficial effects, Kato says. Researchers will be working with bioinformatics experts at Baylor to conduct multiomics analysis of different tissues from mice in the study to learn which youthfulness-related genes were changed by psilocybin. 

Translation Journey

Among key findings of the study were that psilocybin extended the cellular lifespan of human skin and lung cells by more than 50% and increased the survival of aged mice by 30% while also giving them healthier physical features such as improved fur quality, fewer white hairs, and hair regrowth. Mice in both the treatment and control groups were 19 months old, or the equivalent of 60 to 65 human years.  

The overall improved physical appearance of the treated mice was particularly surprising, Kato says. It was a sign that psilocybin may not just promote survival but also expand healthspan, the period of life spent in good health. 

Known aging markers—telomere length as well as oxidative stress and DNA repair responses—were all positively impacted by psilocybin. More profoundly, published study data suggests it prompted a delay in the onset of cellular senescence, says Kato. He and Hecker are now trying to understand mechanistically how that age-slowing process works. 

Psilocybin research has been geared largely towards the treatment of mental and behavioral conditions, which has contributed to the mistaken belief that serotonin only works in the brain. In fact, serotonin can be found throughout the body, including organs like the skin, liver, heart, and lung, Kato says, getting back to psilocybin’s potential systemic benefits. The compound is believed to be primarily activating serotonin receptors at the tissue level, but this needs to be confirmed experimentally.  

If used clinically in the future, Kato theorizes that the frequency between doses would be every one to two years since mice metabolize psilocybin significantly faster than humans. For the same reason, the dosage would also be much lower, although the lowest dose needed for systemic benefit in people has yet to be determined. 

Many discussions are underway on social media about the merits of microdosing psychedelics, Kato points out, and these include prominent public figures and celebrities as well as online communities and influencers. “We are just beginning to understand how psilocybin may impact aging biology, and we are hopeful this will lead to some new approach for improving the quality of life and healthspan extension, but psilocybin is a controlled substance” in the U.S. with no accepted medical use yet. 

The legal and social acceptance of psychedelics varies significantly between countries, says Kato, who is Japanese. In the U.S., “the social and political environment has been radically shifting for the past few years around psilocybin and psychedelic therapy, and some of the clinical trials are in phase 3,” the final stage of clinical testing before submission for regulatory approval. The Trump administration also recently indicated that it wants to see psychedelics used in a clinical setting within 12 months. 

Texas looks to become a leader in psychedelics research, says Kato. The state just approved a $50 million investment in support of Food and Drug Administration approval of ibogaine, a psychedelic compound for treating post-traumatic stress disorder.