Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
October 21, 2026
Zuzanna Sulej, Magdalena Zielińska
Ketamine has revolutionized psych iatric treatment, challenging monoamine-based paradigms through its capacity for rapid antidepressant action. While N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonism remains the canonical mechanism, this integrative review proposes a multi-receptor, neuron–glia convergence model to help account for ketamine's therapeutic efficacy. We outline the well-established...
Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
March 4, 2026
Alexander R. Harris, Patrick McGivern, Kyle C. A. Wedgwood et al.
1 citation
Neural organoids can be integrated with AI models in various formats, termed AI-NO systems. Neural organoids and AI are each high impact research fields which may play significant roles in biological research and clinical decision making. However, their potential benefits, pitfalls and associated governance structures are often overshadowed by highly speculative discourse over the possibility...
Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
2024
Dionnet L Bhatti, Junghee Jin, Jia Cheng et al.
4 citations
The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is a key neural node mediating behavioral responses to stress and the actions of ketamine, a fast-acting antidepressant. The molecular mechanisms underlying these processes, however, are not fully understood. Our recent study revealed a pivotal role of hippocampal Ahnak as a regulator of cellular and behavioral adaptations to chronic stress. However, despite its...
Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
2024
Jia-Ren Liu, Xiao Hui Han, Koichi Yuki et al.
4 citations
Disrupted in schizophrenia-1 (DISC1) is a scaffolding protein whose mutated form has been linked to schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorders, and recurrent major depression. DISC1 regulates multiple signaling pathways involved in neurite outgrowth and cortical development and binds directly to glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β). Since ketamine activates GSK-3β, we examined the impact of...
Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
June 16, 2022
S. Hameroff
Viewing the brain as a complex computer of simple neurons cannot account for consciousness nor essential features of cognition. Single cell organisms with no synapses perform purposeful intelligent functions using their cytoskeletal microtubules. A new paradigm is needed to view the brain as a scale-invariant hierarchy extending both upward from the level of neurons to larger and larger...
Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
May 30, 2022
Jenny J. Kim, M. Sapio, Fernando A. Vazquez et al.
Ketamine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-receptor antagonist, is a recently revitalized treatment for pain and depression, yet its actions at the molecular level remain incompletely defined. In this molecular-pharmacological investigation in the rat, we used short- and longer-term infusions of high dose ketamine to stimulate neuronal transcription processes. We hypothesized that a progressively...
Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
December 24, 2021
Lynette A. Desouza, Madhurima Benekareddy, Sashaina E. Fanibunda et al.
46 citations
Psychedelic compounds that target the 5-HT 2A receptor are reported to evoke psychoplastogenic effects, including enhanced dendritic arborization and synaptogenesis. Transcriptional regulation of neuronal plasticity-associated genes is implicated in the cytoarchitectural effects of serotonergic psychedelics, however, the transcription factors that drive this regulation are poorly elucidated....
Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
October 12, 2021
Kacper Łukasiewicz, Jacob J. Baker, Yi Zuo et al.
32 citations
Psychedelics, compounds that can induce dramatic changes in conscious experience, have been used by humans for centuries. Recent studies have shown that certain psychedelics can induce neural plasticity by promoting neurite growth and synapse formation. In this review, we focus on the role of classical serotonergic psychedelics in neural plasticity and discuss its implication for their...
Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
November 11, 2020
S. Calovi, Paula Mut-Arbona, Pál Tod et al.
Background: It has been consistently reported that the deficiency of the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) sensitive purinergic receptor P2X7 (P2X7R) ameliorates symptoms in animal models of brain diseases. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the role of P2X7R in rodent models of acute and subchronic schizophrenia based on phencyclidine (PCP) delivery in animals lacking or overexpressing...
Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
April 4, 2019
Rafael Vitor Lima Da Cruz, Thiago C. Moulin, Lyvia Lintzmaier Petiz et al.
4 citations
correction
CORRECTION article Front. Mol. Neurosci., 04 April 2019Sec. Molecular Signalling and Pathways Volume 12 - 2019 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fnmol.2019.00079
Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
September 4, 2018
Rafael Vitor Lima Da Cruz, Thiago C. Moulin, Lyvia Lintzmaier Petiz et al.
86 citations
The subgranular zone (SGZ) of dentate gyrus (DG) is one of the few regions in which neurogenesis is maintained throughout adulthood. It is believed that newborn neurons in this region encode temporal information about partially overlapping contextual memories. The 5-Methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) is a naturally occurring compound capable of inducing a powerful psychedelic state....
Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
2018
Christina T LaGamma, William W Tang, Ashlea A Morgan et al.
Ketamine has been found to have rapid, long-lasting antidepressant effects in treatment-resistant (TR) patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Recently, we have also shown that ketamine acts as a prophylactic to protect against the development of stress-induced depressive-like behavior in mice, indicating that a preventative treatment against mental illness using ketamine is possible....
Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
2018
Bartłomiej Pochwat, Bernadeta Szewczyk, Katarzyna Kotarska et al.
N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) modulators induce rapid and sustained antidepressant like-activity in rodents through a molecular mechanism of action that involves the activation of Ca2+ dependent signaling pathways. Moreover, ketamine, a global NMDAR antagonist is a potent, novel, and atypical drug that has been successfully used to treat major depressive disorder (MDD). However, because...
Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
2018
A Özge Sungur, Tobias M Redecker, Elena Andres et al.
Genetic defects in the three SH3 and multiple ankyrin repeat domains (SHANK) genes (SHANK1, SHANK2, and SHANK3) are associated with multiple major neuropsychiatric disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), schizophrenia (SCZ), and bipolar disorder (BPD). Psychostimulant-induced hyperactivity is a commonly applied paradigm to assess behavioral phenotypes related to BPD and considered...
Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
December 19, 2017
Franciele F Scarante, Carla Vila-Verde, Vinícius L Detoni et al.
Exposure to stressful situations is one of the risk factors for the precipitation of several psychiatric disorders, including Major Depressive Disorder, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Schizophrenia. The hippocampal formation is a forebrain structure highly associated with emotional, learning and memory processes; being particularly vulnerable to stress. Exposure to stressful stimuli leads to...
Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
September 11, 2015
Elena Enosyreva, Anita E. Autry, Ege Ekavalali et al.
51 citations
Ketamine is a NMDA receptor antagonist that produces rapid antidepressant responses in individuals with major depressive disorder. The antidepressant action of ketamine has been linked to blocking NMDA receptor activation at rest, which inhibits eukaryotic elongation factor2 kinase leading to desuppression of protein synthesis and synaptic potentiation in the CA1 region of the hippocampus....