BACKGROUND: Recent studies demonstrate that the rapid antidepressant ketamine increases spine number and function in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and that these effects are dependent on activation of glutamate α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionic acid (AMPA) receptors and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). In vitro studies also show that activation of AMPA receptors...
Background Despite widely reported clinical and preclinical studies of rapid antidepressant actions of glutamate N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptor antagonists, there has been very little work examining the effects of these drugs in stress models of depression that require chronic administration of antidepressants, or the molecular mechanisms that could account for the rapid responses....
The rapid antidepressant response after ketamine administration in treatment-resistant depressed patients suggests a possible new approach for treating mood disorders compared to the weeks or months required for standard medications. However, the mechanisms underlying this action of ketamine [a glutamate N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptor antagonist] have not been identified. We observed...