Ketamine and its enantiomers for depression: a bibliometric analysis from 2000 to 2023.
European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience – April 25, 2024
Source: PubMed
Summary
Groundbreaking research reveals ketamine's remarkable rise as a depression treatment, with over 4,000 scientific publications tracking its evolution since 2000. Advanced visualization techniques mapped how this anesthetic became a breakthrough therapy, particularly after esketamine's approval for treatment-resistant depression. The data shows two main research trends: studying ketamine's safety and exploring how its molecular forms (enantiomers) work in the brain.
Abstract
Ketamine has demonstrated rapid and sustained antidepressant effects, marking its emergence as an innovative treatment of depression. Despite the growing number of preclinical and clinical studies exploring the antidepressant effects of ketamine and its enantiomers, a comprehensive bibliometric analysis in this field has yet to be conducted. This study employs bibliometric methods and visualization tools to examine the literature and identify key topics related to the antidepressant effects of ketamine and its enantiomers. We sourced publications on the antidepressant effects of ketamine and its enantiomers from the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC) database, covering the period from 2000 to 2023. Tools such as VOSviewer, CiteSpace and the R package "bibliometrix" were utilized for visual analysis. The study included 4,274 publications, with a notable increase in publications peaking in 2022. Co-occurrence analysis highlighted two primary research focal points: the efficacy and safety of ketamine and its enantiomers in treating depression, and the mechanisms behind their antidepressant effects. In conclusion, this analysis revealed a significant increase in research on the antidepressant effects of ketamine and its enantiomers over the past two decades, leading to the approval of esketamine nasal spray for treatment-resistant depression. The rapid antidepressant effects of ketamine have spurred further studies into its mechanisms of action and the search for new antidepressants with fewer side effects.