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Interaction between perineuronal nets and ketamine in antidepressant action

Calvin K. Young, Kachina G. Kinley, Neil McNaughton

bioRxiv Preprint Server May 30, 2021 preprint DOI: 10.1101/2021.05.30.446326 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Preliminary experimental study
Population Rats
Topics Depression Ketamine Esketamine
Keywords Brain research Neurobiology Brain function Cortical studies Medial frontal cortex Antidepressants Depression treatment Pharmacotherapy Psychiatric drugs Mood stabilizers Mood disorder Mental health Affective disorder Depression-like behavior Molecular mechanisms Scaffolding proteins Protein function Cellular biology Brain chemistry Synergistic effect Combination therapy Drug interaction Synergism
Key findings Neither removal of scaffolding proteins nor ketamine alone decreased depression-like behavior, but they may interact synergistically to decrease immobility time in the forced swim test.

Abstract

Depression is highly prevalent, increases suicide risk, and is now the leading cause of disability worldwide. Our ability to treat depression is hampered by the lack of understanding of its biological underpinnings and of the mode of action of effective treatments. We hypothesised that the scaffolding proteins in the medial frontal cortex play a major role in effective antidepressant action. We implanted cannulae into the infralimbic cortex to inject chABC and locally remove perineuronal nets and then tested for antidepressant effects with the forced swim test. We further tested if systemic injections of ketamine had an additive effect. Our preliminary data indicate that neither the removal of these scaffolding proteins nor ketamine were sufficient to decrease depression-like behaviour, but may interact synergistically to decrease immobility time in the forced swim test.

Comparable studies

Other preclinical and animal studies on ketamine for depression, most cited first.

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