S-Ketamine Pretreatment Alleviates Anxiety-Like Behaviors and Mechanical Allodynia and Blocks the Pro-inflammatory Response in Striatum and Periaqueductal Gray From a Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Model
Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience April 14, 2022 Shuai Yang, Ke Xu, Xuan Xu et al.
A single injection of S-ketamine (5 mg/kg) reduced mechanical pain sensitivity and anxiety-like behaviors in adult male rats that had been exposed to a single-prolonged stress model of post-traumatic stress disorder. The treatment also lowered pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β) and microglia activation in the dorsal striatum and periaqueductal gray, but not in the anterior cingulate cortex or prefrontal cortex. Phosphorylated NF-κB was elevated in the dorsal striatum and reduced by S-ketamine. The results suggest S-ketamine may alleviate pain and anxiety in PTSD by dampening inflammation in specific brain regions.