Molecular Psychiatry
June 1, 2026
Charles F Zorumski, Joseph Cichon, Yukitoshi Izumi et al.
5 citations
The success of ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic and non-competitive N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonist, as a rapidly acting antidepressant has ignited efforts to identify other novel depression treatments. In recent years, several clinical trials indicated that nitrous oxide (N2O), an inhalational dissociative anesthetic in clinical use for over 150 years, also has rapid and...
The Neuroscientist
December 26, 2025
Kallol Bera, Loren L. Looger, Alex Proekt et al.
5 citations
Ketamine is a unique anesthetic agent that induces dissociative anesthesia, characterized by perceptual detachment, analgesia, and altered states of consciousness. Beyond its widespread use in anesthesia, subhypnotic ketamine dosing has emerged as a rapid-acting antidepressant and a valuable model for probing the neural mechanisms underlying consciousness and neuropsychiatric disorders. At the...
Nature Neuroscience
October 2, 2025
Ahmad Hammo, Stephen Wisser, Joseph Cichon
20 citations
Chronic pain and mood disorders co-occur, exacerbate one another and share neurobiological mechanisms, but whether a single intervention could promptly alleviate both conditions remains unclear. Here, in two chronic pain models, we show that a single dose of psilocybin induces a rapid and sustained reversal of both mechanical allodynia and anxiodepression-like states in adult male and female...
Nature Communications
April 3, 2025
Joseph Cichon, Thomas Joseph, Xinguo Lu et al.
Nitrous oxide (N2O) induces rapid and durable antidepressant effects. The cellular and circuit mechanisms mediating this process are not known. Here we find that a single dose of inhaled N2O induces rapid and specific activation of layer V (L5) pyramidal neurons in the cingulate cortex of rodents exposed to chronic stress conditions. N2O-induced L5 activation rescues a stress-associated...
Translational Perioperative and Pain Medicine
June 29, 2022
Joseph Cichon, Renyu Liu, Hoang-Vinh Le
While the hallucinogenic plant Salvia divinorum has been safely consumed by humans for centuries for religious or recreational purposes without long-term side effects, its active component, salvinorin A, and molecular mechanism of action were not known until recently [1]. Notably, salvinorin A is a potent kappa opioid receptor (KOR) agonist that is highly selective for KOR without significant...
Joseph Cichon, Thomas Joseph, Andrzej Z Wasilczuk et al.
Abstract Nitrous oxide (N2O) induces rapid and durable antidepressant effects in patients suffering from treatment-resistant depression1,2. The cellular and circuit mechanisms mediating this process are not known. Here we find that a single dose of inhaled N2O induces rapid and specific activation of layer V (L5) pyramidal neurons in the prefrontal cortex of rodents exposed to chronic stress...
Joseph Cichon, Thomas Joseph, Xinguo Lu et al.
Abstract Nitrous oxide (N2O) induces rapid and durable antidepressant effects. The cellular and circuit mechanisms mediating this process are not known. Here we find that a single dose of inhaled N2O induces rapid and specific activation of layer V (L5) pyramidal neurons in the cingulate cortex of rodents exposed to chronic stress conditions. N2O-induced L5 activation rescues a...