The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
May 27, 2016
Yi-Chyan Chen
Background: Ketamine, an antagonist on N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor, can produce neurobehavioral changes ranging from mood alterations and psychotic episodes in human to hyperactivity and stereotyped motion in mice. In the study, we tested the pharmacological properties of ketamine on anxiety, locomotion and motor activity. Materials and Methods: Subjects were C57BL/6J mice with age of...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
May 27, 2016
G. Treccani, Liebenberg N. Nico, S. Tillmann et al.
Specific objective of the study: This study is aimed to investigate desipramine, venlafaxine and bupropion on depression and anxiety in mice. Methods used: We used a classic tricyclic antidepressant, desipramine; a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitör, venlafaxine; a second-generation antidepressant agent that blocks centrally the reuptake of noradrenaline and dopamine, bupropion in...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
May 27, 2016
P. Jack, B. Massimiliano, Grazia di Capua et al.
Abstract Objective: One third of major depressive disorder (MDD) patients are unresponsive to antidepressant drugs, a sub-type known as treatment resistant depression (TRD). Acute intravenous administration of ketamine at sub-anaesthetic dosage is the only efficacious pharmacological treatment in TRD. Development of TRD preclinical assays to screen for more efficacious antidepressant drugs and...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
May 25, 2016
Philip R. Corlett, Garry D Honey, P. Fletcher
In 2007, we proposed an explanation of delusion formation as aberrant prediction error-driven associative learning. Further, we argued that the NMDA receptor antagonist ketamine provided a good model for this process. Subsequently, we validated the model in patients with psychosis, relating aberrant prediction error signals to delusion severity. During the ensuing period, we have developed...
Biological Psychiatry
May 12, 2016
Marc S. Lener, Mark J. Niciu, E. Ballard et al.
In patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) or bipolar disorder (BD), abnormalities in excitatory and/or inhibitory neurotransmission and neuronal plasticity may lead to aberrant functional connectivity patterns within large brain networks. Network dysfunction in association with altered brain levels of glutamate (Glu) and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) have been identified in both animal...
Neuroscience Letters
May 4, 2016
Tracey L Petryshen, Michael Lewis, Kelly A Dennehy et al.
Current medications for depression typically require weeks of treatment before significant clinical improvement is observed, and are only effective in a relatively small subset of patients. Recent human clinical studies have demonstrated that ketamine, an NMDA receptor antagonist, and scopolamine, a muscarinic acetylcholine receptor antagonist, produce rapid antidepressant responses within...
Brain Research Bulletin
May 4, 2016
Rachel R. Horsley, Eva Lhotková, Kateřina Hájková et al.
38 citations
Methoxetamine (MXE) is a novel psychoactive compound (NPS) that emerged in 2010 as a substitute for the dissociative anaesthetic ketamine. MXE has a reputation of carrying a lower risk of harm than ketamine, however a number of deaths have been reported. Currently very little is known about the psychopharmacological effects of this compound or its toxicity; therefore we tested, in Wistar rats,...
Biological Psychiatry
May 1, 2016
D. M. Katz, F. Menniti, R. J. Mather
In 2007, Adrian Bird and his colleagues at the University of Edinburgh published a groundbreaking study demonstrating that Rett syndrome (RTT), a severe genetic neurodevelopmental disorder, is reversible in mouse models of the disease (1). Using Cre-Lox technology, the Bird group engineered a mouse in which the disease-causing gene, Mecp2, could be reversibly inactivated. Animals born with the...
Evidence-Based Mental Health
May 2016
Jaclyn Schwartz, James W. Murrough, Dan V. Iosifescu
Approximately one-third of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) do not respond to existing antidepressants, and those who do generally take weeks to months to achieve a significant effect. There is a clear unmet need for rapidly acting and more efficacious treatments. We will review recent developments in the study of ketamine, an old anaesthetic agent which has shown significant...
BJPsych Open
May 1, 2016
Gin S. Malhi, Yulisha Byrow, Frederick Cassidy et al.
31 citations
SUMMARY: The appeal of ketamine - in promptly ameliorating depressive symptoms even in those with non-response - has led to a dramatic increase in its off-label use. Initial promising results await robust corroboration and key questions remain, particularly concerning its long-term administration. It is, therefore, timely to review the opinions of mood disorder experts worldwide pertaining to...