Esketamine, a drug that blocks NMDA receptors, improved neurological function and promoted nerve repair in mice with intracerebral hemorrhage. RNA sequencing and network pharmacology identified neurotrophin-3 and the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway as key targets. Experiments confirmed that esketamine increased NTF3 protein levels, and blocking the PI3K/AKT pathway with a specific inhibitor reduced the drug's therapeutic effects. The findings suggest esketamine activates the NTF3/PI3K/AKT pathway to aid recovery after brain hemorrhage.
In patients with disorders of consciousness, the anesthetic esketamine preserved brain electrical complexity and gamma-band functional connectivity better than propofol during spinal cord stimulator implantation. Esketamine was linked to faster recovery of spontaneous breathing (12 vs. 17 minutes on average) and a lower need for blood pressure support during surgery. At three months, esketamine was associated with significantly improved consciousness outcomes. The findings suggest esketamine may offer neuroprotective benefits in this population.
Rumination, a common symptom of major depressive disorder (MDD), may be regulated by a body-mind relaxation meditation induction (BMRMI) intervention through changes in brain connectivity. In 25 people with MDD and 24 healthy controls, resting-state fMRI showed that at baseline, those with MDD had stronger functional connectivity between the right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and right superior frontal gyrus than controls. After the intervention, the MDD group showed weaker connectivity between the left dACC and right middle frontal gyrus, while controls showed enhanced connectivity in the right dACC region. The strength of right dACC-right superior frontal gyrus connectivity correlated positively with rumination scores across all participants at baseline. These findings suggest BMRMI may alter self-referential and cognitive processing by modulating dACC connectivity in MDD with rumination.
Body-mind relaxation meditation (BMRM) alters thalamocortical functional connectivity in medication-naive adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD) and healthy controls. Before the intervention, MDD patients showed reduced connectivity between the bilateral precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex and specific thalamus subregions, and increased connectivity between the left occipital thalamus and left medial frontal cortex. After BMRM, these aberrant connections normalized in MDD patients, and both groups showed decreased connectivity between the left rostral temporal thalamus and left inferior occipital region. These changes suggest BMRM may strengthen connections between the thalamus and default mode network, which support attention and self-related processes. The small sample size limits generalizability.