Psyched Wellness Announces Findings From an Ongoing Study With the National Research Council of Canada

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp July 26, 2022) - Psyched Wellness Ltd. (CSE: PSYC) (OTCQB: PSYCF) (FSE: 5U9) (the "Company" or "Psyched"), a life sciences company focused on the production and distribution of health and wellness products derived from the Amanita Muscaria mushroom, is pleased to announce the preliminary data from tests completed by the National Research Council of Canada (NRC).

One of the primary immune cells in the brain are the microglia, which facilitate neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration. Recent work investigated how AME-1 extract could modify microglial functions. Microglia respond to a variety of stimuli, including lipopolysaccharides found in the cell walls of bacteria (LPS), viral components (such as poly I:C nucleotides) and inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF). In a recent study, researchers stimulated human microglial cells with LPS, poly I:C and TNF in the presence of AME-1 to determine if AME-1 could modify how microglia respond to these common stimulants.

The researchers found that a specific nucleotide, poly I:C, caused the microglia to be more activated than normal and produce important immune mediators. This could potentially indicate that AME-1 boosts the antiviral immune response in the brain, perhaps protecting brain tissue from viral infection.

AME-1 had no significant effect on how microglia respond to LPS and TNF. However, AME-1 potentiated poly I:C activation of microglial cells, resulting in greater production of the chemokine, IL-8. The chemokine IL-8 is a protein that attracts immune cells to the site of infection. Preliminary research has shown that this process may be mediated by AME-1 upregulation of the Toll-Like Receptor -3, which is the receptor that mediates microglial responses to poly I:C. Further experiments will examine how AME-1 upregulates TLR3 by microglial cells and how this could be contributing to the increased responses to poly I:C, which may contribute to the anti-viral immune response in the brain and thus reduce viral infection.

This work is preliminary, and more work is needed to further investigate the potential benefits from the natural product AME-1.

“This additional preliminary evidence of the investigative study is revealing key functional properties of the AME-1 extract. This Amanita Muscaria mushroom functional properties will be further investigated and identified in this scientific approach to help understand the functional neuroprotective property of AME-1,” says Brian Tancowny, scientific advisor to Psyched Wellness.

“When it comes to the Amanita Muscaria mushroom, we are the first in many fields of research”, says David Shisel, the company’s COO, “Our extract, AME-1 provides us with the opportunity to do multiple studies and the more we examine the extract, the more we understand this incredible powerful mushroom. This is just the tip of the iceberg and we plan to continue researching and understanding its powers along the way.”

Psyched Wellness is launching its first AME-1 product, Calm, in the coming months. Calm is currently available for preorder.

To preorder Calm, visit shop.psyched-wellness.com.