China Medical University School of Forensic Medicine, Shenyang, China; Liaoning Province Key Laboratory of Forensic Bio-evidence Sciences, China; China Medical University Center of Forensic Investigation, China. Electronic address: xwu@cmu.edu.cn.
2 papers in the library · 11 citations · publishing 2024-2026
Ketamine, a drug originally used as an anesthetic and now commonly abused in China, can cause cognitive impairment by disrupting the brain's glymphatic system, which normally clears metabolic waste. In a mouse model of short-term ketamine administration, the drug increased expression of the 5-HT2c receptor in hippocampal astrocytes, leading to accumulation of the transcription factor ΔFosb. ΔFosb then bound to a specific DNA sequence in the regulatory region of the Aqp4 gene, suppressing Aqp4 expression and impairing glymphatic circulation, which resulted in cognitive deficits. This mechanism does not involve the Pten/Akt pathway and reveals a non-neuronal basis for ketamine-induced cognitive harm, informing clinical safety and withdrawal effectiveness.
Repeated ketamine exposure over seven days causes anxiety-like and depressive-like behaviors along with cognitive deficits in mice. The dopamine receptor DRD1 plays a key role in these effects: activating DRD1 produces anxiety-like behavior similar to ketamine and worsens ketamine's effects, while blocking DRD1 partially reduces anxiety but worsens depression. Ketamine triggers apoptosis (cell death) in HT22 cells by suppressing Akt/Gsk3β phosphorylation through DRD1. In mice, ketamine promotes neuronal apoptosis in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex; blocking DRD1 partially reduces this apoptosis, but knocking down DRD1 in neurons unexpectedly increases both apoptosis and anxiety-like behavior.