[Ketamine and suicidal behavior: Contribution of animal models of aggression-impulsivity to understanding its mechanism of action]

Abstract

More than two-thirds of suicides occur during a major depressive episode. Acting out prevention measures and therapeutic options to manage the suicidal crisis are limited. The impulsive-aggressive dimensions are vulnerability factors associated with suicide in patients suffering from a characterized depressive episode: this can be a dimension involved in animals. Impulsive and aggressive rodent models can help analyze, at least in part, the neurobiology of suicide and the beneficial effects of treatments. Ketamine, a glutamatergic antagonist, by rapidly improving the symptoms of depressive episodes, would help reduce suicidal thoughts in the short term. Animal models share with humans impulsive and aggressive endophenotypes modulated by the serotonergic system (5-HTB receptor, MAO-A enzyme), neuroinflammation or the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and stress. Significant effects of ketamine on these endophenotypes remain to be demonstrated.

Keywords: Aggression; Agressivité; Animal models; Antidepressant; Antidépresseur; Impulsivity; Impulsivité; Ketamine; Kétamine; Modèles animaux; Suicide.