Conditioned anti-immobility by ketamine: A comparison to escitalopram and bupropion.

This study was designed to explore the clinical belief that "set and setting" play an important role in favorable responses to psychedelic agents such as ketamine (KET). In fact, there is evidence in animals that the antidepressant effect of this drug may involve drug-environment interactions in which a context paired with its effects acquires the ability to influence behavior. Therefore, it was investigated in male Sprague-Dawley rats whether exposure to a context paired with the effects of KET, or with the effects of the common antidepressant medications bupropion (BUP) and escitalopram (ESC), could produce an antidepressant-like conditioned response.