Figure 7.

Potential cellular mechanisms for rapid antidepressant action. (a) Acetyl-L-carnitine (LAC) may act inside and outside the nucleus to promote rapid antidepressant responses. Inside the nucleus, LAC increases mGlu2 transcription by enhancing acetylation of the NF-κB and histone H3K27 bound to mGlu2 promoter gene. Outside the nucleus, LAC may control stability of the neuronal cytoskeleton to regulate dendritic remodeling (Nasca et al, 2013). (b) Graphical representation of known intracellular signaling pathways involved in the regulation of the actin cytoskeleton (adapted from WikiPathways) in which genes altered by acute stress, chronic stress, or after recovery from stress are highlighted (yellow) based on microarray data derived from Gray et al. (2014).