The treatment of depression — searching for new ideas
Frontiers in Pharmacology October 7, 2022 Katarzyna Stachowicz, Magdalena Sowa-Kućma 48 citations
Depression is a severe mental health problem that affects people regardless of social status or education, is associated with changes in mood and behavior, and can result in suicide attempts. Current therapy relies mainly on drugs discovered in the 1960s and early 1970s, with SSRIs and SNRIs as frontline treatments. Esketamine, approved by the FDA in 2019, is an important compound for suicide and drug-resistant depression, acting as an NMDA receptor antagonist with additional effects on AMPA receptors, HCN channels, L-VDCC, opioid receptors, and monoaminergic receptors. However, treatment is burdened with severe side effects and often ineffective. This review discusses new research directions and proposes a new perspective on depressive therapies, emphasizing the need for antidepressants with different mechanisms of action.