Cognitive and kinematic markers of ketamine effects in behaving non-human primates.
European journal of pharmacology January 15, 2025 Pierre Pouget, Pierre Daye, Martin Paré 2 citations
Ketamine, which alters synaptic transmission via NMDARs, affects cognitive functions, but its impact on motor control in the brainstem is selective. In primates, ketamine injection substantially decreased the deceleration of horizontal saccades, which rely on glycine-NMDAR-gated currents, while vertical saccade deceleration, controlled by GABA currents, remained largely unaffected. This indicates that despite general circulation of the drug, the motor brainstem generator circuit differentially maintains saccade kinematics. The results provide distinct markers for estimating NMDAR-gated specificity in the prefrontal cortex versus GABA circuit specificity.