BATESVILLE, Ark. – Levi Neal, a biomedical science student at Lyon College from the rural town of Lead Hill, spent his summer investigating whether psychedelic compounds could help combat opioid addiction, drawing from his own experiences growing up amid the crisis in northern Arkansas.
Raised in a community of fewer than 300 people, Neal witnessed the opioid and methamphetamine epidemics up close, affecting neighbors, family members and schoolmates. “Addiction wasn’t abstract. It was my neighbors, my family, the people I went to school with,” Neal said. He came to view addiction as a biological issue involving brain changes, cravings and withdrawal, rather than a moral failing, which fueled his pursuit of research to address it.
Through the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Neal worked in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology under Dr. William Fantegrossi and research associate Justin Pressley. The study tested the psychedelic compound DOI, or 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine, on mice to see if it could reduce behaviors tied to opioid dependence.
Using an oral self-administration model—simulating how people often consume synthetic opioids like fentanyl in pills or liquids—the team had mice voluntarily drink solutions of the fentanyl analog 4-fluoroisobutyryl fentanyl at concentrations of 100 micrograms per milliliter and 300 micrograms per milliliter. After establishing dependence, researchers induced withdrawal with naloxone and treated half the mice with DOI, tracking consumption, body temperature, locomotion, pain sensitivity and drug-seeking patterns.
The results showed mice consumed the drug to the point of dependence, even overcoming its bitter taste due to rewarding effects, and displayed clear withdrawal symptoms. DOI treatment blunted some withdrawal signs but did not significantly lower overall drug intake or cravings. “It showed us that psychedelics might ease withdrawal, but they may not curb cravings,” Neal explained.
The work validated a new oral model for studying synthetic fentanyl dependence, an advance over common injection-based studies, and built on psychedelics’ established promise for treating alcohol and nicotine addiction. Neal noted the findings guide future efforts: “Our results suggest they might help with withdrawal symptoms but not cravings, which tells researchers where to focus next.”
Neal presented his research to more than 200 attendees at UAMS and plans to share it at national conferences, including those hosted by the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and Biology, Behavior and Chemistry. He aims to earn a Ph.D. in neuroscience while staying connected to rural communities like Lead Hill, focusing on accessible treatments and community-based interventions. “I want to make sure scientific discoveries reach the people who need them most,” he said.
Neal credited the Lyon College experience and SURF program for bridging classroom theory with hands-on science. “In class you learn about research in pieces. In the lab, you see how it all connects.”
