Antidepressant-Like Effects of CX717, a Positive Allosteric Modulator of AMPA Receptors.

Conventional antidepressant drugs elevate the availability of monoamine neurotransmitters. However, these pharmacological therapies have limited efficacy and a slow onset of action as main limitations. New glutamatergic drugs such as ketamine have shown promise as a rapid-acting antidepressant drugs although with adverse effects. The mechanism of action of ketamine is hypothesized to involve a dis-inhibition of cortical pyramidal neurons produced by an stimulation of AMPA receptors by glutamate. In this context, low-impact positive allosteric modulators of the AMPA receptors (a.k.a. ampakines) have been regarded as potential antidepressant drugs. Here, we have examined the behavioral, biochemical, and molecular effects of a low-impact ampakine, CX717. Our results show that CX717 has a rapid (30 min) but short-lasting (up to 24 h) antidepressant-like effect in the forced swim test. Intra-cortical infusion of CX717 increases the efflux of noradrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin, but not glutamate. However, systemic CX717 does not alter these neurotransmitters. CX717 also produced a rapid (up to 1 h) increase of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and a more sustained (up to 6 h) increase of p11. Overall, CX717 appears to possess a rapid but not sustained antidepressant action possibly caused by rapid increases of BDNF and p11.

Signaling pathways responsible for the rapid antidepressant-like effects of a GluN2A-preferring NMDA receptor antagonist.

In a previous study we found that the preferring GluN2A receptor antagonist, NVP-AAM077, elicited rapid antidepressant-like effects in the forced swim test that was related to the release of glutamate and serotonin in the medial prefrontal cortex. In the present work we sought to examine the duration of this behavioral effect as well as the molecular readouts involved. Our results showed that NVP-AAM077 reduced the immobility in the forced swim test 30 min and 24 h after its administration. However, this effect waned 7 days later. The rapid antidepressant-like response seems to be associated with increases in the GluA1 subunit of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptors, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling, glia markers such as glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and excitatory amino acid transporter 1 (EAAT1), and a rapid mobilization of intracellular stores of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the medial prefrontal cortex.

Medial entorhinal cortex and medial septum contribute to self-motion-based linear distance estimation.

Path integration is a navigation strategy that requires animals to integrate self-movements during exploration to determine their position in space. The medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) has been suggested to play a pivotal role in this process. Grid cells, head-direction cells, border cells as well as speed cells within the MEC collectively provide a dynamic representation of the animal position in space based on the integration of self-movements. All these cells are strongly modulated by theta oscillations, thus suggesting that theta rhythmicity in the MEC may be essential for integrating and coordinating self-movement information during navigation. In this study, we first show that excitotoxic MEC lesions, but not dorsal hippocampal lesions, impair the ability of rats to estimate linear distances based on self-movement information. Next, we report similar deficits following medial septum inactivation, which strongly impairs theta oscillations in the entorhinal-hippocampal circuits. Taken together, these findings demonstrate a major role of the MEC and MS in estimating distances to be traveled, and point to theta oscillations within the MEC as a neural mechanism responsible for the integration of information generated by linear self-displacements.