Research Symposium

BIO

Hi, My name is Kevin Etienne, an undergrad student at Florida State University, majoring in Behavioral Neuroscience with a minor in French. I was born and raised in South Florida, and I am from Haiti. I am interested in different types of research. I currently work as a research assistant for FSU COM in a program called ACTS 2 (The African-American Alzheimer's Caregiving Training and Support 2), which is a faith-based, skills-training and support program for African-American caregivers taking care of a loved one who has dementia. Also, I am in a research lab with Dr.Kabbaj investigating and understanding the brain basis of emotional behavior involving the use of ketamine. I don't have a set plan after I graduate from FSU but I am thinking about graduate programs to get a Ph.D.

Chemogenetic Manipulation of nucleus accumbens medium spiny neurons in cue-induced reinstatment to ketamine

Abstract

In patients with Treatment-Resistant Depression (TRD), a single infusion of low-dose ketamine (KET) has a rapid onset and improves depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts within 2 hours; however, patients require repeated infusions of KET to maintain remission. At high doses, KET is highly addictive, and as depression and addiction are highly comorbid, more research is needed to assess the safety of repeated KET exposure in TRD patients. Our lab has previously shown that female rats are more sensitive to the antidepressant/addictive-like effects of KET; male and female rats self-administer KET across a wide range of doses (0.1 - 0.5 mg/kg/inf) and under differing experimental conditions, suggesting that repeated exposure to KET has addictive potential. Reinstatement studies (an animal model of relapse) in KET and cocaine implicated the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a critical mediator of reward/reinforcement learning, in drug-seeking. We examined the role of D1R- and D2R-containing MSNs in the NAc in mediating the reinstatement of ketamine cues in both sexes. Additionally, we examined cFos and mCherry protein expression in cell-type-specific MSNs in the NAc to visualize neuronal activity and inhibition by CNO. Our findings reveal that ketamine, at a dose below what is currently used in treatment regimens, displays addiction-like behavior in male and female rats and warrants further research into repeated ketamine treatments for various psychopathologies.

Keywords: cue-induced reinstatement ketamine