Researchers Develop Statistical Model That Can Characterize Ketamine’s Effects on the Brain

Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT have developed a statistical model that can characterize how ketamine affects an individual’s brain. The research, which was published in “PLOS Computational Biology,” found that ketamine produced different effects, which means that to improve patient outcomes and better understand ketamine, a ketamine-specific model was needed.

This is why the researchers designed a model based on rhythm measurements from two animal subjects and nine human subjects. The model defines the characteristic states of brain activity that occur when an individual is under ketamine anesthesia. In addition, it also tracks patterns of how states switch and will offer data scientists, neuroscientists and anesthesiologists a guide on what patients will experience while under ketamine anesthesia and how the anesthesia affects the brain.

Prof. Edward Taplin of Computational Neuroscience and Emery N. Brown, an anesthesiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and senior author of the study, have also developed a statistical analysis that characterizes the brain’s activity under anesthesia.

An analysis was conducted after colleagues at the hospital noticed alternating patterns of low-frequency delta rhythms and high-frequency gamma rhythms in patients who were under ketamine anesthesia. The researchers collected data from nine surgical patients who had volunteered to have ketamine anesthesia administered before their surgeries. Each patient had an EEG mounted on their forehead. The data collected from animals was obtained in the lab of MIT Professor of Neuroscience Earl Miller.

Using beta distribution as an observation model and a hidden Markov model, the model demonstrated how each state changed in a characteristic order as well as how long each lasted.

Indie Garwood, the lead in Brown’s team, explained that understanding the patterns would allow researchers to make predictions, adding that anesthesiologists who monitor rhythms in patients could also use the model’s findings to make sure that brain states were changing as they should and make adjustments if they weren’t.

Currently, the researchers are focused on different projects, including measuring the effects of ketamine as patients awaken from anesthesia as well as the drug’s effects in other areas of the brain. They note that developing systems that can monitor unconsciousness in a clinical setting while a patient is under ketamine anesthesia will need progressing versions of this model that can run in real time.

The study was funded by the JPB Foundation, Massachusetts General Hospital, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

Many companies, including Delic Holdings Inc. (CSE: DELC) (OTCQB: DELCF), are focused on developing ketamine-based formulations as well as medicines from other psychedelic compounds that have been shown to be beneficial in the treatment of a variety of health conditions, including mental health disorders.

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Delic Holdings Inc. (CSE: DELC) (OTCQB: DELCF) available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/DELCF

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