Trial reportBiological psychiatry2013
Neural correlates of rapid antidepressant response to ketamine in treatment-resistant unipolar depression: a preliminary positron emission tomography study.
Trial report in Biological psychiatry, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 84 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
84 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 163 citations in OpenAlex.
- Psychedelics and ketamine/esketamine in depressive disorders: biological mechanisms and associated neuroimaging and clinical changes.Translational psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- The habenula in mood disorders: A systematic review of human studies.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Convergent functional effects of antidepressants in major depressive disorder: a neuroimaging meta-analysis.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- The disappointment centre of the brain gets exciting: a systematic review of habenula dysfunction in depression.Translational psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Brain-based correlates of antidepressant response to ketamine: a comprehensive systematic review of neuroimaging studies.The lancet. Psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Efficacy of single and repeated administration of ketamine in unipolar and bipolar depression: a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.Pharmacological reports : PR · 2020Pooled it
- Correlations between major depressive disorder, splenic morphology, and immune function.BMC psychiatry · 2025Trial
- Region- and time- specific effects of ketamine on cerebral blood flow: a randomized controlled trial.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023Trial
- Individualized fMRI connectivity defines signatures of antidepressant and placebo responses in major depression.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Trial
- Habenula Connectivity and Intravenous Ketamine in Treatment-Resistant Depression.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2021Trial
- Neural correlates of change in major depressive disorder anhedonia following open-label ketamine.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2015Trial
- Preliminary Findings Supporting Insula Metabolic Activity as a Predictor of Outcome to Psychotherapy and Medication Treatments for Depression.The Journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2015Trial
- A randomized controlled trial of intranasal ketamine in major depressive disorder.Biological psychiatry · 2014Trial
- Improvement in suicidal ideation after ketamine infusion: relationship to reductions in depression and anxiety.Journal of psychiatric research · 2014Trial
- Clinical predictors of ketamine response in treatment-resistant major depression.The Journal of clinical psychiatry · 2014Trial
- Effect of ketamine intervention on hemodynamic responses in patients with treatment-resistant depression.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- The Connectomic Glutamate Framework for Depression: Bridging Molecular Plasticity and Network Reorganization.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Asymmetric lateral habenula function and peripheral neural mechanisms in regulating itch-evoked scratching.Current biology : CB · 2025Article
- Ketamine enantiomers and the gut microbiota: mechanisms, clinical implications, and future directions.Molecular biology reports · 2025Review
- Time-dependent biphasic alterations in brain metabolism following chronic ketamine exposure in mice.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
24 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMultiple lines of evidence support a role for the glutamatergic system in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD). Ketamine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonist, rapidly improves depressive symptoms in individuals with treatment-resistant depression. The neural mechanisms underlying this effect remain unknown.
methodsIn this preliminary study, 20 unmedicated participants with treatment-resistant MDD underwent positron emission tomography to measure regional cerebral glucose metabolism at baseline and following ketamine infusion (single dose of .5mg/kg intravenous over 40minutes). Metabolic data were compared between conditions using a combination of region-of-interest and voxelwise analyses, and differences were correlated with the associated antidepressant response.
resultsWhole-brain metabolism did not change significantly following ketamine. Regional metabolism decreased significantly under ketamine in the habenula, insula, and ventrolateral and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices of the right hemisphere. Metabolism increased postketamine in bilateral occipital, right sensorimotor, left parahippocampal, and left inferior parietal cortices. Improvement in depression ratings correlated directly with change in metabolism in right superior and middle temporal gyri. Conversely, clinical improvement correlated inversely with metabolic changes in right parahippocampal gyrus and temporoparietal cortex.
conclusionsAlthough preliminary, these results indicate that treatment-resistant MDD subjects showed decreased metabolism in the right habenula and the extended medial and orbital prefrontal networks in association with rapid antidepressant response to ketamine. Conversely, metabolism increased in sensory association cortices, conceivably related to the illusory phenomena sometimes experienced with ketamine. Further studies are needed to elucidate how these functional anatomical changes relate to the molecular mechanisms underlying ketamine's rapid antidepressant effects.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.