Loss of phenotype of parvalbumin interneurons in rat prefrontal cortex is involved in antidepressant- and propsychotic-like behaviors following acute and repeated ketamine administration.

Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that single subanesthetic dose of ketamine exerts rapid, robust, and lasting antidepressant-like effects. Nevertheless, repeated subanesthetic doses of ketamine produce psychosis-like effects with dysfunction of parvalbumin (PV) interneurons. We hypothesized that PV interneurons play an important role in the antidepressant-like actions of ketamine, and different changes in PV interneurons occur with the antidepressant-like and propsychotic-like effects of ketamine. To test this hypothesis, ketamine's antidepressant-like effects were evaluated by the forced swimming test. Ketamine-induced stereotyped behaviors and hyperactivity actions and the function of PV interneurons were also assessed. We demonstrated that an acute dose of 10 mg/kg ketamine induced significant antidepressant-like effects and reduced the levels of PV and the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-producing enzyme GAD67 in the rat prefrontal cortex. Moreover, inhibition of ketamine-induced loss of PV by apocynin blocked these antidepressant-like effects. Repeated administration of 30 mg/kg ketamine elicited stereotyped behaviors and hyperactivity actions as well as a longer duration of PV and GAD67 loss, higher brain glutamate levels, and lower brain GABA levels than acute single dose of ketamine. Our results reveal that the loss of phenotype of PV interneurons in the prefrontal cortex contributes to the antidepressant-like actions and is also involved in the propsychotic-like behaviors following acute and repeated ketamine administration, which may be partially mediated by the disinhibition of glutamate signaling. The different degrees and durations of the actions on PV interneurons produced by the two regimens of ketamine may partly underline the behavioral variance between the antidepressant- and propsychotic-like effects.