Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science
October 1, 2023
Ben Julian A Palanca, Charles R Conway, Thomas Zeffiro et al.
Nitrous oxide holds promise in the treatment of major depressive disorder. Its psychotropic effects and NMDA receptor antagonism have led to comparisons with ketamine. Despite longstanding use, persistent effects of nitrous oxide on the brain have not been characterized. Sixteen healthy volunteers were recruited in a double-blind crossover study. In randomized order, individuals underwent a...
Science Translational Medicine
June 9, 2021
Peter Nagele, Ben J Palanca, Britt M Gott et al.
Nitrous oxide at 50% inhaled concentration has been shown to improve depressive symptoms in patients with treatment-resistant major depression (TRMD). Whether a lower concentration of 25% nitrous oxide provides similar efficacy and persistence of antidepressant effects while reducing the risk of adverse side effects is unknown. In this phase 2 clinical trial (NCT03283670), 24 patients with...
Journal of the Neurological Sciences
May 15, 2020
Molly C Kalmoe, Alvin Janski, Charles F Zorumski et al.
N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonists, including ketamine and nitrous oxide, are currently intensely studied as rapid-acting antidepressant agents. Interestingly, both of these compounds are also drugs of abuse. Intravenous ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic that induces complex downstream effects via NMDARs, rapidly reduces depressive and suicidal symptoms in treatment-resistant...
Biological Psychiatry
July 1, 2015
Peter Nagele, Andreas Duma, Michael Kopec et al.
N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonists, such as ketamine, have rapid antidepressant effects in patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). We hypothesized that nitrous oxide, an inhalational general anesthetic and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist, may also be a rapidly acting treatment for TRD. In this blinded, placebo-controlled crossover trial, 20 patients with TRD were...