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A subanesthetic dose of ketamine in the Rhesus monkey reduces the occurrence of anticipatory saccades

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An Erratum to this article was published on 05 August 2015

Abstract

Rationale

It has been shown that antagonism of the glutamatergic N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor with subanesthetic doses of ketamine perturbs the perception of elapsed time. Anticipatory eye movements are based on an internal representation of elapsed time. Therefore, the occurrence of anticipatory saccades could be a particularly sensitive indicator of abnormal time perception due to NMDA receptors blockade.

Objectives

The objective of this study was to determine whether the occurrence of anticipatory saccades could be selectively altered by a subanesthetic dose of ketamine.

Methods

Three Rhesus monkeys were trained in a simple visually guided saccadic task with a variable delay. Monkeys were rewarded for making a visually guided saccade at the end of the delay. Premature anticipatory saccades to the future position of the eccentric target initiated before the end of the delay were not rewarded. A subanesthetic dose of ketamine (0.25 mg/kg) or a saline solution of the same volume was injected i.m. during the task.

Results

We found that the injected dose of ketamine did not induce sedation or abnormal behavior. However, in ∼4 min, ketamine induced a strong reduction of the occurrence of anticipatory saccades but did not reduce the occurrence of visually guided saccades.

Conclusion

This unexpected reduction of anticipatory saccade occurrence could be interpreted as resulting from an altered use of the perception of elapsed time during the delay period induced by NMDA receptors antagonism.

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Funding and disclosure

This work was funded by a grant of the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique Médicale (FRSM) number 3.4.523.08.F (www.fnrs.be/) and a grant from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) referred to as ‘SHS 2 2012 PeDu’.

The funders had no role in study design, data collection, and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Neurosciences (IONS), Cognition and System (COSY), Université catholique de Louvain, 53 av Mounier,B1.53. 4 COSY, 1200, Brussels, Belgium

    Ameqrane Ilhame & Missal Marcus

  2. ICM, CNRS, INSERM, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Hôpital de la Salpêtrière, Paris, France

    Wattiez Nicolas & Pouget Pierre

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  1. Ameqrane Ilhame
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  2. Wattiez Nicolas
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  3. Pouget Pierre
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  4. Missal Marcus
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Correspondence to Missal Marcus.

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Ilhame, A., Nicolas, W., Pierre, P. et al. A subanesthetic dose of ketamine in the Rhesus monkey reduces the occurrence of anticipatory saccades. Psychopharmacology 232, 3563–3572 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-015-4005-z

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