Investigation of ketamine-related changes in attentional functional brain networks with fMRI and noradrenergic PET

• Applicant: Dr. Thomas Liebe
• Subject Area: Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry ; Experimental and Theoretical Network Neuroscience ; Clinical Neurology; Neurosurgery and Neuroradiology
• Term: from 2020 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 449879371

The research objectives in the current study are to further investigate our recent model of noradrenergic related antidepressant effects of subanaesthetic ketamine. Firstly, we will investigate the effects of the antidepressant ketamine on the noradrenaline based attention networks in the brain during task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging. We are particularly interested in changes within the functional brain connections of locus coeruleus (LC) - a brain nucleus which is responsible for almost all of the noradrenaline distribution in the brain - during an attention network task, revealing ketamine induced changes in the alerting situation and revealing the relation to the antidepressive effect. We support the measurement of the LC functional brain connections by mapping the exact individual location of LC facilitated with a special MRI sequence developed by the applicant.Furthermore, we assess the dissociative symptoms of ketamine in the healthy subjects and correlate the degree of symptoms after ketamine to LC signal intensity and brain network changes.Lastly, we will directly uncover that noradrenegic mechanisms of ketamine by Positron emission tomography. Our research aims to improve the understanding of depression and its novel therapy based on ketamine.

• DFG Programme: WBP Fellowship
• International Connection: Austria
• Host: Professor Dr. Rupert Lanzenberger