Repurposing Ketamine in the Therapy of Depression and Depression-Related Disorders: Recent Advances and Future Potential.
Aging and disease – April 29, 2024
Source: PubMed
Summary
A single dose of ketamine can lift severe depression symptoms within hours - a breakthrough finding that's reshaping mental health treatment. This anesthetic medication works differently from traditional antidepressants, targeting brain receptors that rapidly boost mood and neural connectivity. Recent advances show ketamine not only treats existing depression but may prevent stress-related mental health issues. Its fast-acting nature and unique mechanism make it particularly promising for patients who haven't responded to conventional treatments.
Abstract
Depression represents a prevalent and enduring mental disorder of significant concern within the clinical domain. Extensive research indicates that depression is very complex, with many interconnected pathways involved. Most research related to depression focuses on monoamines, neurotrophic factors, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, tryptophan metabolism, energy metabolism, mitochondrial function, the gut-brain axis, glial cell-mediated inflammation, myelination, homeostasis, and brain neural networks. However, recently, Ketamine, an ionotropic N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, has been discovered to have rapid antidepressant effects in patients, leading to novel and successful treatment approaches for mood disorders. This review aims to summarize the latest findings and insights into various signaling pathways and systems observed in depression patients and animal models, providing a more comprehensive view of the neurobiology of anxious-depressive-like behavior. Specifically, it highlights the key mechanisms of ketamine as a rapid-acting antidepressant, aiming to enhance the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders. Moreover, we discuss the potential of ketamine as a prophylactic or therapeutic intervention for stress-related psychiatric disorders.