Scientific Reports
February 24, 2024
Jennifer W. Evans, Morgan C Graves, Allison C. Nugent et al.
9 citations
The hippocampus and amygdala have been implicated in the pathophysiology and treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD). Preclinical models suggest that stress-related changes in these regions can be reversed by antidepressants, including ketamine. Clinical studies have identified reduced volumes in MDD that are thought to be potentiated by early life stress and worsened by repeated...
Translational Psychiatry
December 3, 2023
Laith Alexander, Peter C. T. Hawkins, Jennifer W. Evans et al.
26 citations
Abstract Activity changes within the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) are implicated in the antidepressant effects of ketamine, but the ACC is cytoarchitectonically and functionally heterogeneous and ketamine’s effects may be subregion specific. In the context of a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled crossover trial investigating the clinical and resting-state fMRI effects of intravenous...
Frontiers in Neuroimaging
June 27, 2023
Vasileia Kotoula, Jennifer W. Evans, Claire Punturieri et al.
26 citations
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a non-invasive technique that can be used to examine neural responses with and without the use of a functional task. Indeed, fMRI has been used in clinical trials and pharmacological research studies. In mental health, it has been used to identify brain areas linked to specific symptoms but also has the potential to help identify possible...
Progress in Brain Research
2023
Vasileia Kotoula, Jennifer W. Evans, Claire Punturieri et al.
17 citations
Imaging studies of treatment-resistant depression (TRD) have examined brain activity, structure, and metabolite concentrations to identify critical areas of investigation in TRD as well as potential targets for treatment interventions. This chapter provides an overview of the main findings of studies using three imaging modalities: structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional MRI...
Molecular Psychiatry
September 14, 2020
A. Mkrtchian, Jennifer W. Evans, Christoph Kraus et al.
110 citations
Ketamine improves motivation-related symptoms in depression but simultaneously elicits similar symptoms in healthy individuals, suggesting that it might have different effects in health and disease. This study examined whether ketamine affects the brain’s fronto-striatal system, which is known to drive motivational behavior. The study also assessed whether inflammatory mechanisms—which are...
Biological Psychiatry
October 15, 2018
Jennifer W. Evans, Joanna E Szczepanik, Nancy E. Brutsché et al.
The symptoms of major depressive disorder (MDD) are rapidly alleviated by administration of a single dose of the glutamatergic modulator ketamine. However, few studies have investigated the potential sustained neural effects of this agent beyond immediate infusion. This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the effect of a single ketamine infusion on the resting state...
Neuropsychopharmacology
August 2018
Jennifer W. Evans, Níall Lally, Li An et al.
The glutamatergic modulator ketamine has striking and rapid antidepressant effects in major depressive disorder (MDD), but its mechanism of action remains unknown. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) is the only non-invasive method able to directly measure glutamate levels in vivo; in particular, glutamate and glutamine metabolite concentrations are separable by 1H-MRS at 7T. This...
NeuroImage: Clinical
2018
Jessica L Reed, Allison C. Nugent, Maura L. Furey et al.
An urgent need exists for faster-acting pharmacological treatments in major depressive disorder (MDD). The glutamatergic modulator ketamine has been shown to have rapid antidepressant effects, but much remains unknown about its mechanism of action. Functional MRI (fMRI) can be used to investigate how ketamine impacts brain activity during cognitive and emotional processing. This double-blind,...