Neuroscience
February 16, 2025
Xinxu Ma, Shanshan Xue, Hongzhe Ma et al.
12 citations
A single dose of esketamine alleviates depressive-like behaviors in adolescent male mice exposed to the inflammatory agent LPS. The antidepressant effect is linked to increased expression of the Nrf2 protein and reduced levels of inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, iNOS) in the brain's prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. Blocking Nrf2 with the inhibitor ML385 reversed both the behavioral and anti-inflammatory effects of esketamine. In the blood, esketamine also reduced pro-inflammatory and increased anti-inflammatory cytokines, an effect again blocked by Nrf2 inhibition. The findings suggest esketamine's rapid antidepressant action may work through activating Nrf2-mediated anti-inflammatory signaling.
Frontiers in psychiatry
January 1, 2024
Haixia Chen, Xinxin Zhao, Xinxu Ma et al.
9 citations
A single dose of esketamine rapidly alleviated depressive- and anxiety-like behaviors in mice exposed to chronic variable stress, an effect comparable to seven days of repeated fluoxetine treatment. The stress protocol increased plasma levels of multiple inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-17A, TNFα, IL-4, IL-9, IL-24, IL-37, IFN-β, and CXCL12) and decreased IL-10 and IL-33. Both esketamine and fluoxetine partially normalized these inflammatory disturbances. The findings suggest that esketamine's rapid antidepressant action may involve normalizing inflammatory cytokine expression.
Advanced Science
September 25, 2025
Ye Wang, Lei Liu, Jinghao Wang et al.
2 citations
Early administration of S-Ketamine (on day 1) after trauma significantly improves PTSD symptoms in rodent models, particularly impaired fear extinction, while late administration (day 7) does not. The firing and burst rates of dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) decrease after PTSD modeling and are restored only by early S-Ketamine. These VTA dopamine neurons respond to conditioned stimuli and help replace aversive memory encoding during fear extinction. Inhibiting the VTA-to-orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) pathway blocks S-Ketamine's therapeutic effect. A non-invasive brain stimulation targeting the OFC sensitizes cortical dopaminergic transmission and extends the effective time window of S-Ketamine for anti-PTSD treatment.
Frontiers in medicine
January 1, 2024
Jiangning Xu, Jin Jian, Yunyun Zhang et al.
1 citation
Nasal administration of esketamine effectively relieves acute pain after CT-guided needle localization before lung surgery. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 90 patients with pain scores above 3 on a 10-point scale received either a low or high dose of esketamine or saline. Satisfactory pain relief—a score of 3 or lower 15 minutes after treatment—occurred in 56.7% of patients given 0.3 mg/kg esketamine, 53.3% given 0.5 mg/kg, but only 16.7% given saline. Those receiving esketamine also required less rescue pain medication and had similar rates of side effects. The results indicate that intranasal esketamine is a safe and effective option for managing acute pain in this setting.
Medicine
March 6, 2026
Hongfei Xiong, Yingxue Xu, Jiayi Liu et al.
Single-dose esketamine, given orally or intranasally, effectively reduces preoperative anxiety in children. The 95% effective dose (ED95) for oral administration is 8.2125 mg/kg (95% CI: 7.4250-8.4597 mg/kg), and for intranasal administration is 2.1770 mg/kg (95% CI: 2.0952-2.1958 mg/kg). The findings indicate both safety and efficacy for this use.