Anhedonia is frequently observed in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and is associated with a higher risk of cognitive decline and dementia, and it potentially serve as preclinical marker and psychopathological risk factor for AD. Current antidepressants show limited efficacy in anhedonia, highlighting a critical unmet medical need. In this study, APP/PS1 mice at 8 months of age exhibited...
The available therapeutic options for post-stroke depression patients are limited. Although SSRIs are the most commonly prescribed antidepressants, their slow onset of action and the higher risk of adverse effects or contraindications have led to an urgent need to develop fast-acting and highly specific antidepressants tailored to the needs of PSD patients. Therefore, ketamine has drawn...
3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) or publicly known as "ecstasy" is a drug abuse substance. Since antibodies that detect MDMA typically also recognize its chemical analogue, methamphetamine (METH), we identified antibodies specifically recognizing MDMA, but not METH, named 1bB11 and 1bF12, using phage display. The crystal structure of 1bB11 in complex with MDMA was determined at 3.2 Å...
Ketamine, an N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, induces deficits in cognition and information processing following chronic abuse. Adolescent ketamine misuse represents a significant global public health issue; however, the neurodevelopmental mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain largely elusive. This study investigated the long-term effects of sub-chronic ketamine (Ket)...
Psychoactive natural products are potent serotonergic agonists capable of modulating brain functions such as memory and cognition. These substances have shown therapeutic potential for treating various mental disorders. The fact that N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is produced endogenously in several plants and animals, including humans, makes it particularly attractive. As an amino acid-derived...
PURPOSE OF REVIEW To explore the convergent downstream pathways of ketamine and rapastinel and drive further development of identification for following generational rapid-acting antidepressants in the synaptic process. RECENT FINDINGS Ketamine is an NMDAR antagonist and is proven effective in depression for the rapid and sustained antidepressant response, while rapastinel is an NMDAR positive...
It has been proposed by some plant scientists that plants are cognitive and conscious organisms, although this is a minority view. Here we present a brief summary of some of the arguments against this view, followed by a critique of an article in this same issue of Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications by Calvo, Baluska, and Trewavas (2020) that cites Integrated Information Theory...
It is commonly assumed that plants do not possess consciousness. Since the criterion for this assumption is usually human consciousness this assumption represents a top down attitude. It is obvious that plants are not animals and using animal criteria of consciousness will lead to its rejection in plants. However using a bottom up evolutionary approach and a leading theory of consciousness,...
Synthetic cannabinoids (SCBs), synonymous with 'K2', 'Spice' or 'synthetic marijuana', are psychoactive drugs of abuse that frequently result in clinical effects and toxicity more severe than those classically associated with Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol such as extreme agitation, hallucinations, supraventricular tachycardia, syncope, and seizures. JWH-018 is one of the earliest compounds identified...