Abstract Background Low-dose racemic ketamine enhances the firing rate and burst activity of rat norepinephrine neurons in the locus coeruleus, as well as the population activity of dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area [El Iskandrani et al, 2015]. These brainstem monoamine nuclei densely innervate the prefrontal cortex (PFC), whereas clinical studies have shown a facilitation of...
Abstract Background In preclinical studies, an increase in α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) to N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor throughput is the predominant hypothesis posited to explain the rapid antidepressant effect of ketamine and S-ketamine. Several lines of evidence show that this AMPA increase takes place in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), which...