Acute ketamine treatment produces long-term anxiolytic effects despite increasing oxidative stress in female Wistar Kyoto rats
bioRxiv July 1, 2026 Alena Lemeshova, Feysal Abdirahaman, Haney Haidari et al.
A single dose of ketamine reduces anxiety for an extended period in female Wistar Kyoto rats, even though it increases oxidative stress in the brain. The anxiolytic effect persists long after the drug is cleared, suggesting that the initial oxidative stress does not prevent the lasting behavioral benefit.