Ketamine alters oscillatory coupling in the hippocampus
Scientific Reports August 2, 2013 Fábio V. Caixeta, Alianda Maira Cornélio, Robson Scheffer-Teixeira et al. 134 citations
Blocking NMDA receptors with ketamine alters how different brain rhythms interact in the hippocampus, a region critical for memory and attention. In awake rats, ketamine (25, 50, and 75 mg/kg) increased fast brain oscillations (gamma and high-frequency oscillations) across all layers of the CA1-dentate axis, while changes in slower theta waves depended on location. Ketamine also increased phase coherence of fast oscillations across hippocampal layers. The coupling between theta waves and fast oscillations changed in a dose-dependent way: theta-high-frequency coupling increased at all doses, but theta-gamma coupling increased only at the lowest dose and was disrupted at the highest dose. These findings indicate that NMDA receptor blockade disrupts neural coordination patterns linked to cognitive functions impaired in schizophrenia.