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Updated: May 8, 2026
07:04
A High-performance Liquid Chromatography Measurement of Kynurenine and Kynurenic Acid: Relating Biochemistry to Cognition and Sleep in Rats
Published on: August 19, 2018
Ketamine, sleep, and depression: current status and new questions
Wallace C Duncan1, Carlos A Zarate
1Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiology Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Current Psychiatry Reports
|August 17, 2013
Summary
Ketamine rapidly improves mood in treatment-resistant depression by increasing brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and enhancing slow wave sleep (SWA). These changes in plasticity markers correlate with mood improvement and sustained treatment response.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Sleep Medicine
Background:
- Ketamine, an NMDA receptor antagonist, shows rapid antidepressant effects in treatment-resistant major depressive disorder (MDD).
- Preclinical data suggest ketamine influences neuroplasticity via brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and sleep slow wave activity (SWA).
Purpose of the Study:
- To review human EEG slow wave sleep (SWA) parameters and plasma BDNF as surrogate markers of plasticity.
- To assess ketamine's effects on these plasticity markers and their correlation with antidepressant response.
Main Methods:
- Review of human studies examining EEG slow wave sleep (SWA) and plasma BDNF levels.
- Correlation analysis of these markers with mood changes and treatment response in patients receiving ketamine.
Main Results:
- Ketamine acutely elevates plasma BDNF and early night SWA, including high-amplitude slow waves.
- These acute changes correlate with mood improvement in ketamine-responsive depressed patients.
- Increased total sleep and decreased waking post-infusion are associated with enduring treatment response.
Conclusions:
- Plasma BDNF and SWA serve as valid peripheral and central markers of neuroplasticity.
- Ketamine's acute effects on BDNF and SWA appear to initiate mood improvement.
- Sleep changes following ketamine infusion may mediate its sustained antidepressant effects.
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