Ketamine disrupts gaze patterns during face viewing in the common marmoset
Janahan Selvanayagam, Kevin Johnston, Raymond K. Wong, David J. Schaeffer, Stefan Everling
bioRxiv Preprint Server February 16, 2021 preprint DOI: 10.1101/2021.02.16.431438 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Preclinical experimental study |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 4 |
| Population | Common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) |
| Intervention | Ketamine |
| Dose | subanesthetic dose |
| Topics | Esketamine Ketamine |
| Keywords | Ketamine: substances Social behavior Face-viewing Visual attention Marmosets: animal model Primates Psychiatric disorders |
| Key findings | Ketamine disrupted marmosets' scan paths during face viewing, shifting gaze preference from eyes to snout and making saccade landing positions unpredictable from onset regions. |
Abstract
Faces are stimuli of critical importance for primates. The common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) is a promising model for investigations of face processing, as this species possesses oculomotor and face processing networks resembling those of macaques and humans. Face processing is often disrupted in neuropsychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia (SZ) and thus it is important to recapitulate underlying circuitry dysfunction preclinically. The N-Methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) non-competitive antagonist ketamine has been used extensively to model the cognitive symptoms of SZ. Here, we investigated the effects of a subanesthetic dose of ketamine on oculomotor behaviour in marmosets during face viewing. Four marmosets received systemic ketamine or saline injections while viewing phase-scrambled or intact videos of conspecifics’ faces. To evaluate effects of ketamine on scan paths during face viewing, we identified regions of interest in each face video, and classified locations of saccade onsets and landing positions within these areas. A preference for the snout over eye regions was observed following ketamine administration. In addition, regions in which saccades landed could be significantly predicted by saccade onset region in the saline but not the ketamine condition. No significant drug effects were observed for phase-scrambled videos. Effects on saccade control were limited to a reduction in saccade amplitudes during viewing of scrambled videos. Thus, ketamine induced a significant disruption of scan paths during viewing of conspecific faces but limited effects on saccade motor control. These findings support the use of ketamine in marmosets for investigating changes in neural circuits underlying social cognition in neuropsychiatric disorders.
Comparable studies
Other preclinical and animal studies on ketamine, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| mTOR-Dependent Synapse Formation Underlies the Rapid Antidepressant Effects of NMDA Antagonists Rats | 2010 | Observational study | |
| Activation of Glutamatergic Neurotransmission by Ketamine: A Novel Step in the Pathway from NMDA Receptor Blockade to Dopaminergic and Cognitive Disruptions Associated with the Prefrontal Cortex Conscious rats | 1997 | Dose-response study with microdialysis and behavioral testing | |
| NMDAR inhibition-independent antidepressant actions of ketamine metabolites Mice | 2016 | Preclinical study | |
| The dissociative anaesthetics, ketamine and phencyclidine, selectively reduce excitation of central mammalian neurones by N‐methyl‐aspartate Spinal neurons in decerebrate or pentobarbitone-anaesthetized cats and rats | 1983 | Experimental study | |
| R-ketamine: a rapid-onset and sustained antidepressant without psychotomimetic side effects Mice | 2015 | Experimental study |
Citations in the library
Cites 4
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- Ketamine and postoperative pain – a quantitative systematic review of randomised trials Pain December 15, 2004
- Association of Ketamine With Psychiatric Symptoms and Implications for Its Therapeutic Use and for Understanding Schizophrenia JAMA Network Open May 1, 2020
- The NMDA antagonist ketamine and the 5-HT agonist psilocybin produce dissociable effects on structural encoding of emotional face expressions Psychopharmacology July 26, 2012