Ketamine-induced oscillations in the motor circuit of the rat basal ganglia.
María Jesús Nicolás, Jon López-Azcárate, Miguel Valencia, Manuel Alegre, Marta Pérez-Alcázar, Jorge Iriarte, Julio Artieda
PLoS One 2011 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0021814 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational animal experiment Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 20 |
| Population | Awake rats |
| Intervention | Ketamine |
| Dose | 10, 25 and 50 mg/Kg |
| Topics | Esketamine Ketamine |
| Key findings | Ketamine at subanesthetic doses induced coherent low gamma (~50 Hz), high gamma (~80 Hz), and high-frequency (~150 Hz) oscillations across motor cortex and basal ganglia structures in rats, with frequency-specific connectivity patterns. Power in all three bands correlated with motor activity, but only high-frequency and high gamma coherence correlated with movement. The authors suggest the motor effects of ketamine may be primarily mediated by widespread coherent high-frequency activity in the basal ganglia motor circuit. |
Abstract
Oscillatory activity can be widely recorded in the cortex and basal ganglia. This activity may play a role not only in the physiology of movement, perception and cognition, but also in the pathophysiology of psychiatric and neurological diseases like schizophrenia or Parkinson's disease. Ketamine administration has been shown to cause an increase in gamma activity in cortical and subcortical structures, and an increase in 150 Hz oscillations in the nucleus accumbens in healthy rats, together with hyperlocomotion.We recorded local field potentials from motor cortex, caudate-putamen (CPU), substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr) and subthalamic nucleus (STN) in 20 awake rats before and after the administration of ketamine at three different subanesthetic doses (10, 25 and 50 mg/Kg), and saline as control condition. Motor behavior was semiautomatically quantified by custom-made software specifically developed for this setting.Ketamine induced coherent oscillations in low gamma (~ 50 Hz), high gamma (~ 80 Hz) and high frequency (HFO, ~ 150 Hz) bands, with different behavior in the four structures studied. While oscillatory activity at these three peaks was widespread across all structures, interactions showed a different pattern for each frequency band. Imaginary coherence at 150 Hz was maximum between motor cortex and the different basal ganglia nuclei, while low gamma coherence connected motor cortex with CPU and high gamma coherence was more constrained to the basal ganglia nuclei. Power at three bands correlated with the motor activity of the animal, but only coherence values in the HFO and high gamma range correlated with movement. Interactions in the low gamma band did not show a direct relationship to movement.These results suggest that the motor effects of ketamine administration may be primarily mediated by the induction of coherent widespread high-frequency activity in the motor circuit of the basal ganglia, together with a frequency-specific pattern of connectivity among the structures analyzed.
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
Cited by 12
- Ketamine alters oscillatory coupling in the hippocampus Scientific Reports August 2, 2013
- 5-HT2AR and NMDAR psychedelics induce similar hyper-synchronous states in the rat cognitive-limbic cortex-basal ganglia system. Communications Biology July 26, 2023
- Decoupling of motor cortex to movement in Parkinson's dyskinesia rescued by sub-anaesthetic ketamine. Brain June 3, 2025
- Systems-level analysis of local field potentials reveals differential effects of lysergic acid diethylamide and ketamine on neuronal activity and functional connectivity. Frontiers in Neuroscience 2023
- Cortical high-frequency oscillations (≈ 110 Hz) in cats are state-dependent and enhanced by a subanesthetic dose of ketamine. Behavioural Brain Research January 5, 2025
and 7 more in the library