So its funny you mention ketamine. I use it in my clinical practice for a few applications. 1. Conscious sedation for procedures, especially in children. 2. headache treatment refractory to my migraine cocktail 3. chemical control of agitated patients. I'm not a psychiatrist but I have been seeing ketamine in the literature being reported for PTSD and depression. I find it to be a fascinating medication due to its differing effects at different concentrations.
See this post by Reuben
http://emupdates.com/2013/12/25/the-ketamine-brain-continuum/
In regards to your question about my model development. I used mice and its hard obviously to make a mouse schizophrenic. We used PCP and looked at their hyperactivity as measured by bean breaks in a plastic cage with lasers to quantify how "psychotic" they were.
Schizophrenia needs something more dopamine specific that hits the areas where schizophrenics have their anatomic and physicologic problems.
One of the models I was working on fit for autism better than schizophrenia due to the way it affected neuronal migration in its knockdown form. I wrote it up for an NIH grant but then graduated and went and did bioscience enterprise instead of staying for a PhD. I hoped the PI I gave it to would've taken it under advisement but alas nothing came of it. I looked at that molecule and also GAD expression as its not only over stimulation but also under suppression by GABA in many of these circuits in the CNS, glycine in PNS.
I'm starting a medical toxicology fellowship this summer so geeking out over molecular pharma is what I'll be doing professionally for the next 2 years! Lets get nerdy!
Yeah, ketamine has seen some super vast use recently. The compounding pharmacy that I used to work for started getting scripts for it to be used for such a diverse set of reasons, and like you say very specific dosages. Its there is some very exciting research on its treatment for long term depression! Ill be sure to check out the link later tonight when I have a moment.
That sounds like some super interesting work you have done. Sounds like you combine a good blend of techniques for your research. I am always slow to think of a pharmacological, or genetic intervention as being a perfect model, but the research along the way seems to bear many fruits!
Thanks so much for your post, great to find some other molecular-pharma enthusiasts on here! Congrats on your fellowship, I am envious of your experience (being a mere senior undergrad)!