Requirement of AMPA receptor stimulation for the sustained antidepressant activity of ketamine and LY341495 during the forced swim test in rats.

Ketamine, a non-competitive N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonist, and group II metabotropic glutamate (mGlu2/3) receptor antagonists produce antidepressant effects in animal models of depression, which last for at least 24h, through the transient increase in glutamate release, leading to activation of the α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic (AMPA) receptor. Both ketamine and an mGlu2/3 receptor antagonist reportedly increase the expression of GluR1, an AMPA receptor subunit, within 24h, which may account for the sustained enhancement of excitatory synaptic transmission following ketamine administration. However, whether the sustained increase in AMPA receptor-mediated synaptic transmission is associated with the antidepressant effects of ketamine and mGlu2/3 receptor antagonists has not yet been investigated. In the present study, to address this question, we tested whether AMPA receptor stimulation at 24h after a single injection of ketamine or an mGlu2/3 receptor antagonist, (2S)-2-amino-2-[(1S,2S)-2-carboxycycloprop-1-yl]-3-(xanth-9-yl)propanoic acid (LY341495) was necessary for the antidepressant effect of these compounds using a forced swim test in rats. A single injection of ketamine or LY341495 at 24h before the test significantly decreased the immobility time. An AMPA receptor antagonist, 2,3-dioxo-6-nitro-1,2,3,4-tetrahydrobenzo[f]quinoxaline-7-sulfonamide (NBQX), administered 30min prior to the test significantly and dose-dependently reversed the antidepressant effects of ketamine and LY341495, while NBQX itself had no effect on the immobility time. Our findings suggest that AMPA receptor stimulation at 24h after a single injection of ketamine or LY341495 is required to produce the anti-immobility effects of these compounds. Moreover, the present results provide additional evidence that an mGlu2/3 receptor antagonist may share some of neural mechanisms with ketamine to exert antidepressant effects.