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Glutamatergic modulation of auditory information processing in the human brain
Handan Gunduz-Bruce1, Robert M G Reinhart, Brian J Roach
1Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA. handan.gunduz-bruce@yale.edu
Biological Psychiatry
|November 1, 2011
Summary
N-acetylcysteine (NAC) did not reduce ketamine
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Schizophrenia and ketamine administration reduce auditory mismatch negativity (MMN) and P300 event-related potentials (ERPs).
- N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a cystine-glutamate exchanger stimulator, mitigates N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist effects in rodents.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if NAC can attenuate ketamine's effects on behavior, MMN, and P300 in healthy humans.
Main Methods:
- A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study with 16 subjects.
- NAC (3000 mg) or placebo administered orally 165 minutes before ketamine infusion.
- Behavioral and ERP data (MMN, P300) collected during saline and ketamine infusions.
Main Results:
- Ketamine induced psychotic-like symptoms, impaired working memory and attention, and reduced MMN and P300 amplitudes.
- NAC pretreatment did not attenuate ketamine's behavioral or ERP effects.
- NAC alone reduced frequency-deviant MMN amplitude and increased P3 amplitudes.
Conclusions:
- NAC did not attenuate ketamine's effects in humans, contrary to animal studies.
- NAC warrants further investigation as a cognitive enhancer due to its P300 amplitude-increasing effects.
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