Frontiers in Psychiatry
September 2, 2025
Mina Kheirkhah, Nastasia McDonald, Julia Aepfelbacher et al.
1 citation
Introduction: This is the first randomized controlled trial to use both qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate the effects of a combined sensory intervention that included mindfulness, music, and a light-occluding eye mask during antidepressant-dose ketamine treatment for depression. Methods: Forty-three participants with unipolar depressive disorder enrolled in the study; 22...
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
July 1, 2024
Mina Kheirkhah, Allison C. Nugent, Alicia A Livinski et al.
13 citations
Music and ketamine are both known to affect therapeutic outcomes, but few studies have investigated their co-administration. This scoping review describes the existing literature on the joint use of music and ketamine-or esketamine (the S(+) enantiomer of ketamine)-in humans. The review considers that extant studies have explored the intersection of ketamine/esketamine and music in healthy...
Scientific Reports
February 24, 2024
Jennifer W. Evans, Morgan C Graves, Allison C. Nugent et al.
9 citations
The hippocampus and amygdala have been implicated in the pathophysiology and treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD). Preclinical models suggest that stress-related changes in these regions can be reversed by antidepressants, including ketamine. Clinical studies have identified reduced volumes in MDD that are thought to be potentiated by early life stress and worsened by repeated...
medRxiv Preprint Server
February 22, 2021
Jessica R. Gilbert, Christina S. Galiano, Allison C. Nugent et al.
preprint
The glutamatergic modulator ketamine rapidly reduces depressive symptoms in individuals with treatment-resistant major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder. While its underlying mechanism of antidepressant action is not fully understood, modulating glutamatergically-mediated connectivity appears to be a critical component moderating antidepressant response. This double-blind,...
Molecular Psychiatry
September 14, 2020
A. Mkrtchian, Jennifer W. Evans, Christoph Kraus et al.
110 citations
Ketamine improves motivation-related symptoms in depression but simultaneously elicits similar symptoms in healthy individuals, suggesting that it might have different effects in health and disease. This study examined whether ketamine affects the brain’s fronto-striatal system, which is known to drive motivational behavior. The study also assessed whether inflammatory mechanisms—which are...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
April 10, 2018
Jessica R. Gilbert, Julia S. Yarrington, Kathleen E. Wills et al.
58 citations
BACKGROUND: The glutamatergic modulator ketamine has rapid antidepressant effects in individuals with major depressive disorder and bipolar depression. Thus, modulating glutamatergic transmission may be critical to effectively treating depression, though the mechanisms by which this occurs are not fully understood. METHODS: This double-blind, crossover, placebo-controlled study analyzed data...
Molecular Psychiatry
February 27, 2018
Allison C. Nugent, Elizabeth D. Ballard, T. Gould et al.
254 citations
Ketamine’s mechanism of action was assessed using gamma power from magnetoencephalography (MEG) as a proxy measure for homeostatic balance in 35 unmedicated subjects with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 25 healthy controls enrolled in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized cross-over trial of 0.5 mg/kg ketamine. MDD subjects showed significant improvements in depressive symptoms,...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
October 17, 2017
Mark J. Niciu, Nicolas D. Iadarola, Dipavo Banerjee et al.
23 citations
BACKGROUND: This study sought to reproduce, in a larger sample, previous findings of a correlation between smaller raw 3-Tesla (3T) hippocampal volumes and improved antidepressant efficacy of ketamine in individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD). A secondary analysis stratified subjects according to functional BDNF rs6265 (val66met) genotype. METHODS: Unmedicated subjects with...
Current Neuropharmacology
March 25, 2016
Brittany A. Jaso, Mark J. Niciu, Nicolas D. Iadarola et al.
97 citations
Current pharmacotherapies for major depressive disorder (MDD) have a distinct lag of onset that can prolong distress and impairment for patients, and realworld effectiveness trials further suggest that antidepressant efficacy is limited in many patients. All currently approved antidepressant medications for MDD act primarily through monoaminergic mechanisms, e.g., receptor/reuptake agonists or...
Therapeutic Advances in Chronic Disease
April 13, 2015
Nicolas D. Iadarola, Mark J. Niciu, Erica M. Richards et al.
202 citations
Current pharmacotherapies for major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar depression (BDep) have a distinct lag of onset that can generate great distress and impairment in patients. Furthermore, as demonstrated by several real-world effectiveness trials, their efficacy is limited. All approved antidepressant medications for MDD primarily act through monoaminergic mechanisms, agonists or...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
February 17, 2015
Níall Lally, Allison C. Nugent, David A. Luckenbaugh et al.
224 citations
Anhedonia is a cardinal symptom of major depression and is often refractory to standard treatment, yet no approved medication for this specific symptom exists. In this exploratory re-analysis, we assessed whether administration of rapid-acting antidepressant ketamine was associated specifically with reduced anhedonia in medication-free treatment-refractory patients with major depressive...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
October 31, 2014
Elizabeth D. Ballard, Níall Lally, Allison C. Nugent et al.
74 citations
BACKGROUND: The neural correlates of suicidal ideation and its reduction after treatment are unknown. We hypothesized that increased regional cerebral glucose metabolism in the infralimbic cortex (Brodmann area 25), amygdala, and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex would be associated with suicidal ideation and its reduction after ketamine infusion. METHODS: Medication-free patients (n=19) with...
Translational Psychiatry
October 14, 2014
Níall Lally, Allison C. Nugent, David A. Luckenbaugh et al.
269 citations
Anhedonia--which is defined as diminished pleasure from, or interest in, previously rewarding activities-is one of two cardinal symptoms of a major depressive episode. However, evidence suggests that standard treatments for depression do little to alleviate the symptoms of anhedonia and may cause reward blunting. Indeed, no therapeutics are currently approved for the treatment of anhedonia....
Bipolar Disorders
September 18, 2013
Allison C. Nugent, Nancy Diazgranados, Paul J. Carlson et al.
86 citations
OBJECTIVES: Ketamine, an N-methyl d-aspartate (NMDA) antagonist, has rapid antidepressant effects in depressed subjects with bipolar disorder (BD). Evidence supports a role for the glutamatergic system in the pathophysiology of BD. This double-blind, randomized, cross-over study sought to determine cerebral metabolic correlates of antidepressant response to ketamine. METHODS: Twenty-one...