Neuroprotective activity of sub-anesthetic ketamine in a preclinical model of Parkinson's disease is not blocked by antagonizing brain-derived neurotrophic factor signaling
bioRxiv October 29, 2026 Carolyn J Stopera, Mitchell J Bartlett, Kelsey Bernard et al. preprint
Treatment with low-dose ketamine is neuroprotective in rodent models of acute damage, while high doses of ketamine can be neurotoxic. Our group has previously shown that sub-anesthetic ketamine treatment leads to long-term reduction of L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia (LID) via brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)-signaling in a rat 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) model of Parkinson's disease (PD). In...