ASSOCIATION OF NEUROFILAMENT LIGHT CHAIN WITH THE ANTIDEPRESSANT EFFECTS OF LOW-DOSE KETAMINE INFUSION AMONG PATIENTS WITH TREATMENT-RESISTANT DEPRESSION
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology February 1, 2025 Hui-Ju Wu, *Mu-Hong Chen, Wei-Chen Lin
People with treatment-resistant depression have higher blood levels of neurofilament light chain (NFL), a marker of nerve cell damage, than healthy individuals. Among 71 patients with treatment-resistant depression randomly assigned to receive a single low-dose infusion of ketamine (0.5 mg/kg, 0.2 mg/kg) or placebo, higher baseline NFL concentrations were linked to worse depressive symptoms afterward, as measured by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. This suggests that NFL levels might help predict how well someone will respond to low-dose ketamine treatment for depression.