Esketamine, a drug approved for treatment-resistant depression, may also treat postpartum depression (PPD) and reduce depression risk in offspring. In a mouse model of chronic unpredictable mild stress during pregnancy, both mothers with PPD and their adult offspring showed anxiety- and depression-like behaviors. Injecting esketamine into postpartum mice improved these behaviors: it enhanced exploration in unfamiliar environments, increased preference for sucrose, and restored impaired BDNF/AKT/mTOR signaling in the frontal lobe and hippocampus. The findings suggest esketamine has potential for treating PPD and lowering the incidence of depression in the next generation.
Depression and anxiety affect one in five adults, with age influencing prevalence. A cross-sectional survey of 1,088 adults aged 18–55+ years examined how lifetime use of classic psychedelics (e.g., psilocybin, LSD), non-classic psychedelics (e.g., MDMA, ketamine), or both relates to mental health. Age significantly moderated these relationships: classic psychedelic use was linked to lower depression and anxiety among younger adults, but these benefits diminished with age and even reversed for anxiety in older participants. These age-related effects persisted regardless of dosage, frequency, or recency of use and were moderated by mystical experiences for depression but not anxiety. Age may be a meaningful moderator of mental health outcomes from psychedelic use, highlighting the need for age-stratified research to optimize psychedelic-assisted interventions.