Trial reportThe international journal of neuropsychopharmacology2021
Habenula Connectivity and Intravenous Ketamine in Treatment-Resistant Depression.
Trial report in The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 5 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
24 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 49 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effect of ketamine on reward processing in depressive disorders: a systematic review of neuroimaging studies.CNS spectrums · 2026Pooled it
- 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
- Brain-based correlates of antidepressant response to ketamine: a comprehensive systematic review of neuroimaging studies.The lancet. Psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Circadian Influences on the Habenula and Their Potential Contribution to Neuropsychiatric Disorders.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2021Pooled it
- Rapid neuroplasticity changes and response to intravenous ketamine: a randomized controlled trial in treatment-resistant depression.Translational psychiatry · 2023Trial
- Sigma receptor ligands in selected affective disorders, psychoses, and addictions - a narrative review.Pharmacological reports : PR · 2026Review
- Transcriptomic Analysis of the Human Habenula in Schizophrenia.The American journal of psychiatry · 2025Article
- Neuropharmacology of Ketamine and Its Use in the Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder: A Review.Cureus · 2025Review
- Towards an expanded neurocognitive account of ketamine's rapid antidepressant effects.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2025Review
- Modulation of functional network co-activation pattern dynamics following ketamine treatment in major depression.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Modulation of habenular and nucleus accumbens functional connectivity by ketamine in major depression.Brain and behavior · 2024Article
- Disrupted functional connectivity of the habenula links psychomotor retardation and deficit of verbal fluency and working memory in late-life depression.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2024Article
- Depression with comorbid borderline personality disorder - could ketamine be a treatment catalyst?Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Review
- Changes in white matter microstructure following serial ketamine infusions in treatment resistant depression.Human brain mapping · 2023Article
- Neuroimaging-Derived Biomarkers of the Antidepressant Effects of Ketamine.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2023Review
- Role of the mesolimbic dopamine pathway in the antidepressant effects of ketamine.Neuropharmacology · 2023Review
- Functional MRI markers for treatment-resistant depression: Insights and challenges.Progress in brain research · 2023Review
- Review: The use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in clinical trials and experimental research studies for depression.Frontiers in neuroimaging · 2023Review
- A translational perspective on the anti-anhedonic effect of ketamine and its neural underpinnings.Molecular psychiatry · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundKetamine's potent and rapid antidepressant properties have shown great promise to treat severe forms of major depressive disorder (MDD). A recently hypothesized antidepressant mechanism of action of ketamine is the inhibition of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor-dependent bursting activity of the habenula (Hb), a small brain structure that modulates reward and affective states.
methodsResting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was conducted in 35 patients with MDD at baseline and 24 hours following treatment with i.v. ketamine. A seed-to-voxel functional connectivity (FC) analysis was performed with the Hb as a seed-of-interest. Pre-post changes in FC and the associations between changes in FC of the Hb and depressive symptom severity were examined.
resultsA reduction in Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale scores from baseline to 24 hours after ketamine infusion was associated with increased FC between the right Hb and a cluster in the right frontal pole (t = 4.65, P = .03, false discovery rate [FDR]-corrected). A reduction in Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology-Self Report score following ketamine was associated with increased FC between the right Hb and clusters in the right occipital pole (t = 5.18, P < .0001, FDR-corrected), right temporal pole (t = 4.97, P < .0001, FDR-corrected), right parahippocampal gyrus (t = 5.80, P = .001, FDR-corrected), and left lateral occipital cortex (t = 4.73, P = .03, FDR-corrected). Given the small size of the Hb, it is possible that peri-habenular regions contributed to the results.
conclusionsThese preliminary results suggest that the Hb might be involved in ketamine's antidepressant action in patients with MDD, although these findings are limited by the lack of a control group.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.