Common anesthetic in low doses can improve symptoms of depression: Study

A study published in Molecular Psychiatry found that low doses of ketamine, a common anaesthetic, can restore social deficits by restoring function in the anterior insular cortex..

The researchers then used a method that allowed them to directly compare neuronal activation throughout the entire brains of mice treated with (S)-ketamine, (R)-ketamine, or saline (as a control) directly after behavioural tests..

"Notably, we found that chronic social isolation led to decreased neuronal activation in the anterior insular cortex--a brain region that is important for emotional regulation--during social contact, and that (R)-ketamine, but not (S)-ketamine, reversed this effect.".

"These findings highlight the importance of the anterior insular cortex for the positive effects of (R)-ketamine on social impairments, at least in mice," said Hitoshi Hashimoto, senior author of the study..

Together, our results indicate that (R)-ketamine may be better than (S)-ketamine for improving social cognition, and they suggest that this effect is dependent on restoring neuronal activation in the anterior insular cortex..

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