Ketamine modulates fronto-striatal circuitry in depressed and healthy individuals
Molecular Psychiatry September 14, 2020 A. Mkrtchian, Jennifer W. Evans, C. Kraus et al. 110 citations
Ketamine increased fronto-striatal functional connectivity in people with treatment-resistant major depression toward levels seen in healthy volunteers, while shifting connectivity in healthy volunteers toward a state similar to depressed participants under placebo. These effects occurred largely without changes in inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein) and were associated with both acute and sustained symptom improvements in the depressed group. Ketamine thus normalized reward-related brain circuitry in depression but disrupted it in healthy individuals, highlighting the potential importance of this circuitry in ketamine's mechanism of action for motivational symptoms.