Journal of Affective Disorders
July 16, 2026
Sara Massetti, Sanne Y Smith-Apeldoorn, Jolien K E Veraart et al.
Ketamine and its enantiomer esketamine are efficacious in 30-35% of the patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Increased serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) following treatment has been proposed as a potential biomarker of antidepressant response. This is based on studies evaluating single intravenous ketamine treatment. BDNF expression at different treatment schedules...
Psychedelics
June 28, 2026
Joost J. Breeksema, Ulf Bremberg, Jens H van Dalfsen et al.
The research, understanding, and implementation of psychedelic therapies is characterised by a layered complexity that arises from the dynamic interactions between pharmacological and extra-pharmacological factors, and the embeddedness of psychedelics within broader societal, legal, and regulatory systems ill-equipped to accommodate them. This complexity is compounded by an epistemic...
Journal of Psychiatric Research
June 12, 2026
Juliana Lima Constantino, Tobias Stephan Freimann, Jens H van Dalfsen et al.
Oral esketamine is a potentially effective and well-tolerated treatment for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). However, around 50% of TRD individuals treated with oral esketamine do not achieve response, and this variation in response may be accounted for by interindividual differences between patients. Efforts to develop effective and personalized depression treatment strategies are...
Journal of Affective Disorders
May 6, 2026
Rutger Boesjes, Claudia Oosterveld, Jeanine Kamphuis et al.
1 citation
Ketamine, including its enantiomers (S)-ketamine (esketamine) and (R)-ketamine (arketamine), has demonstrated rapid antidepressant effects in major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD), yet clinical responses vary widely, highlighting the need to identify mechanisms underlying treatment efficacy and related potential predictors. Growing evidence suggests that alterations in sleep...
The pharmacogenomics journal
April 24, 2026
Daniël T Coerts, Sanne Y Smith-Apeldoorn, Jérôme C Oude Nijhuis et al.
Oral esketamine displays therapeutic potential for treatment-resistant depression. However, treatment is complicated by a low and variable bioavailability. Genetic polymorphisms in the cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes responsible for esketamine's metabolism may influence bioavailability. In a subsample of patients included in a placebo-controlled trial investigating repeated, low dose oral...
Psychiatry Research
March 1, 2026
Gijsbrecht H J Roelandt, Jurriaan F M Strous, Radboud M Marijnissen et al.
1 citation
Ketamine has been shown to decrease suicidality in patients with depression. However, little is known about tolerability and efficacy in heterogenous, acutely suicidal patients in emergency settings. This pilot study aimed to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and safety of generic intranasal racemic ketamine (75 mg) in the treatment of acute suicidality regardless of the underlying...
Pharmacogenomics
December 12, 2025
Jérôme C Oude Nijhuis, Daniël T Coerts, Jens H van Dalfsen et al.
Oral esketamine is a promising new therapy for treatment-resistant depression. However, concerns exist about interindividual pharmacokinetic variability. Genetic polymorphisms regulating the expression of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters might influence bioavailability. Utilizing blood samples from a placebo-controlled trial investigating repeated, low dose oral esketamine (N = 18), we...
International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research
December 1, 2025
Jurriaan F M Strous, Gijs H J Roelandt, Jens H van Dalfsen et al.
1 citation
Suicidality is a transdiagnostic entity in patients with and without psychiatric disorders. Ketamine is a novel treatment for treatment-resistant depression with favorable effects on related suicidality in this population. Little is known about the effects of ketamine on suicidality as a distinct phenomenon. To assess whether a dose of 75 mg intranasal (IN) ketamine reduces acute suicidality...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
September 12, 2025
Stephan Tap, Kelan Thomas, Tomáš Páleníček et al.
5 citations
Classic psychedelics are increasingly studied as potential treatments for different psychiatric disorders. Current research protocols often require patients to discontinue antidepressants (ADs) for at least 2 weeks before psychedelic administration to decrease the risk of serotonin syndrome and limit their effect on efficacy and the acute subjective effects of psychedelics. Moreover, the...
Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology
August 31, 2025
Cagdas Türkmen, Rutger Boesjes, Anne-Fleur Zandbergen et al.
Intranasal (IN) esketamine represents a novel add-on treatment for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) with reported favourable effects on insomnia. IN esketamine treatment might similarly reduce the incidence of insomnia as an adverse event (AE). The present meta-analysis therefore investigated whether IN esketamine relative to placebo is associated with a lower incidence of insomnia as an AE...
Psychiatry Research
March 1, 2025
Juliana Lima Constantino, Martijn Godschalk, Jens H van Dalfsen et al.
14 citations
Accumulating evidence supports the efficacy of (es)ketamine in the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD), particularly treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Yet around 50% of the individuals with TRD do not respond to (es)ketamine. Elucidating predictors of response and remission could improve treatment outcomes at the individual level by defining subpopulations that are most likely to...
Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry
January 10, 2025
Juliana Lima Constantino, Jens H van Dalfsen, Sara Massetti et al.
6 citations
Psilocybin represents a novel therapeutic approach for individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) who do not respond to conventional antidepressant treatment. Investigating the influence of psilocybin on the pathophysiological processes involved in MDD could enhance our neurobiological understanding of the presumed antidepressant action mechanism. This systematic review aims to summarize...