Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior
December 1, 2024
Lifen Liu, Rui Li, Lanxia Wu et al.
3 citations
In rats exposed to a combined stress model (single prolonged stress plus plantar shock), those treated with (2R,6R)-hydroxyketamine (HNK) showed reduced depression- and anxiety-like behaviors, including increased exploratory activity. The compound reversed stress-induced disruptions in the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, but not in the amygdala. Traumatic stress itself altered PI3K/AKT signaling in all three brain regions. These results suggest that (2R,6R)-HNK may alleviate negative emotional symptoms after trauma by modulating PI3K/AKT signaling, particularly in the hippocampus.
BMJ Open
September 25, 2024
Yi Long, Donghuang Hong, Haibin Ni et al.
1 citation
Esketamine as an adjunct to sufentanil may reduce opioid consumption in non-surgical patients receiving mechanical ventilation in the ICU. This ongoing multicenter, single-blind, randomized controlled trial in six ICUs in China will assign 132 patients to either standard care (sufentanil alone) or an esketamine infusion at 0.2 mg/kg/hour plus sufentanil. The primary outcome is mean hourly sufentanil consumption. The trial aims to provide evidence for esketamine's efficacy and safety, addressing a gap in knowledge for this patient population.
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
October 16, 2023
Xiaofei Jia, Rui Li, Changle Zhou
preprint
Leyi mental training, which combines relaxation, breathing, meditation, koan, and cognitive regulation, improved both emotion and cognition in practitioners. Electroencephalography and psychological scales showed significant enhancements after the intervention. The training may boost emotional regulation by increasing sensitivity to present experiences and strengthening cognitive control, allowing non-reactive attention to all stimuli regardless of emotional valence. It also helps allocate cognitive resources more effectively for current tasks.
Neuroimage
December 15, 2025
Qingyan Kong, Yue Wang, Min Li et al.
Long-term Chinese calligraphy expertise is associated with higher flow experiences during handwriting tasks, even in unfamiliar script styles. Expert calligraphers reported significantly greater flow than novices when imagining writing both Kai-Shu and Cao-Shu scripts. Functional MRI revealed that experts exhibited stronger connectivity between the ventral anterior insula and superior parietal lobule, along with weaker connectivity between the ventral anterior insula and ventral striatum during Kai-Shu, indicating enhanced perception-action coupling and reduced task-irrelevant processing. During Cao-Shu, experts showed reduced connectivity between the anterior medial prefrontal cortex and default mode network regions, suggesting decreased self-referential processing under higher challenge. These connectivity patterns correlated with flow ratings, and Bayesian network modeling indicated a directional path from expertise to functional connectivity to flow, suggesting that long-term practice supports neural mechanisms linked to higher flow.
Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience
February 15, 2023
Cui-Hong Zhou, Xinxin Zhao, Xinxu Ma et al.
A single sub-anesthetic dose of (S)-ketamine reversed depressive-like behaviors in mice subjected to chronic variable stress. The stress procedure altered lipid compositions in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, particularly affecting sphingolipids, glycerolipids, and fatty acyls. (S)-ketamine partially normalized these lipid disturbances, especially in the hippocampus, suggesting that region-specific modulation of the brain lipidome contributes to its antidepressant effects.