New findings on how ketamine effects depression

The discovery that ketamine can help people with severe depression has raised hopes of finding new treatment options for the disease. Researchers in Sweden have now identified novel mechanistic insights into how the drug exerts its antidepressant effect.

Depression is a serious condition that negatively affects how a person thinks, feels, and behaves. In contrast to normal sadness, clinical depression is persistent, often interferes with a person’s ability to experience or anticipate pleasure, and significantly interferes with functioning in daily life.

According to the WHO, the disease affects 360 million people around the world every year. Both genetics and environmental factors can contribute to depression. The most commonly used antidepressants, such as SSRIs, affect nerve signaling via monoamines in the brain. It takes quite a long time before antidepressants affect our bodies. The more they are used the better the outcome will be for us.

Unlike classic antidepressants, ketamine affects the nerve signaling that occurs via the glutamate system, but it is unclear exactly how the antidepressant effect is mediated. When the medicine has an effect, it relieves depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts very quickly.

There are some side effects to ketamine including hallucinations and delusions, so alternative medicines are needed. The researchers want to better understand how ketamine works in order to find substances that can have the same rapid effect but without the side effects. 

Resource