9 papers in the library · 114 citations · publishing 2015-2026
Transl Psychiatry May 29, 2026 Justyna K. Hinchcliffe, Katie Kamenish, Julia M. Bartlett et al.
Differences in how NMDA antagonists modulate negative affective biases in male rats may serve as a predictor of clinical efficacy in major depressive disorder.
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) March 4, 2026 Matthew D. B. Claydon, Justyna K. Hinchcliffe, Julia M. Bartlett et al.
Abstract Psilocybin, a serotonergic psychedelic, can produce rapid and enduring antidepressant effects in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD)[1, 2], yet the neural mechanisms underlying these effects remain unclear. Negative affective biases are an important neuropsychological mechanism central to the development and perpetuation of MDD[3]. Using a translational rodent model, we...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) January 15, 2026 Justyna K. Hinchcliffe, Christopher W. Thomas, Gary Gilmour et al.
Abstract The serotonergic psychedelic, psilocybin, shows potential for rapid and sustained antidepressant effects but the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. Using a chronic interferon-alpha–induced rat model of depression, we show acute psilocybin (0.3 mg/kg) reverses impaired reward-induced biases within 24hrs, with effects enduring for at least 7 days. This suggests psilocybin can restore...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) November 1, 2025 Dasha Anderson, Justyna K. Hinchcliffe, Megan N. Jackson et al. 1 citation preprint
Abstract Background Behavioural studies in animal models represent a critical component of psychiatric drug development. Positive results in animal studies have identified novel therapeutic targets for major depressive disorder (MDD) but efficacy in humans has largely not been borne out in clinical trials. A possible reason for this failed translation is inappropriate dose selection and the...
Journal of Psychopharmacology August 26, 2025 Emma Robinson
Psychiatric disorders represent a particularly challenging area of medicine to study using non-human animals. They arise from a complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors and are diagnosed using clinical interviews and diagnostic criteria based largely on self-reported symptoms and with significant heterogeneity seen within patient populations. Anxiety and major depressive...
International review of neurobiology 2025 Dasha Anderson, Emma Robinson 3 citations
In recent years, public and academic interest into psychedelics has increased, given the clinical evidence of their potential benefits for treating psychiatric conditions such as major depressive disorder (MDD). While this has been accompanied by several landmark human studies, mechanistic studies in rodents are still relatively few, but such studies are crucial for understanding the...
British Journal of Pharmacology October 28, 2024 Laith Alexander, Dasha Anderson, Luke Baxter et al. 11 citations
Psychedelic drugs have seen a resurgence in interest as a next generation of psychiatric medicines with potential as rapid-acting antidepressants (RAADs). Despite promising early clinical trials, the mechanisms which underlie the effects of psychedelics are poorly understood. For example, key questions such as whether antidepressant and psychedelic effects involve related or independent...
Science Translational Medicine January 10, 2024 Katie Kamenish, Roberto Arban, Aslihan Selimbeyoglu et al. 26 citations
How rapid-acting antidepressants (RAADs), such as ketamine, induce immediate and sustained improvements in mood in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) is poorly understood. A core feature of MDD is the prevalence of cognitive processing biases associated with negative affective states, and the alleviation of negative affective biases may be an index of response to drug treatment....
Neuropsychopharmacology March 5, 2015 Sarah A. Stuart, Paul Butler, Marcus R. Munafò et al. 73 citations
The biochemical targets for antidepressants are relatively well established, but we lack a clear understanding of how actions at these proteins translate to clinical benefits. This study used a novel rodent assay to investigate how different antidepressant drugs act to modify affective biases that have been implicated in depression. In this bowl-digging task, rats encounter two equal value...