Morphological correlates of anxiety-related experiences during a ketamine infusion.
The world journal of biological psychiatry : the official journal of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry November 1, 2024 S Graf, G Dörl, C Milz et al. 2 citations
Ketamine's rapid antidepressant effects are linked to enhanced neuroplasticity in the amygdala and hippocampus, brain regions involved in fear and learning. Anxiety during ketamine infusion is associated with poorer treatment outcomes. In a single-blind, placebo-controlled study, 17 healthy volunteers received placebo then 0.5 mg/kg ketamine intravenously. Anxiety was measured using the 5D-ASC score, and brain scans were taken 4 hours after infusion. Smaller hippocampal head volume significantly predicted greater anxiety (β = -0.733, p = 0.006), with similar trends for subfields. Hippocampal subfield volumes may help predict anxiety-related experiences during ketamine use and potentially treatment outcomes.