A single low dose of esketamine given at the start of cardiac valve surgery reduced rates of depression and anxiety one week after surgery. Among 142 patients, those receiving esketamine had a depression rate of 7.0% compared to 31.0% in the placebo group, and an anxiety rate of 11.3% versus 35.2%. Esketamine also lowered delirium incidence, improved pain, sleep, and recovery quality, and reduced inflammatory markers (IL-6, CRP) and a neuronal injury marker (S100β) while increasing brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Side effects did not differ between groups.
A high-throughput screening method for drugs targeting the 5-HT2A receptor was developed using calcium flux signals. The method, optimized with 10,000 cells per well, 0.2% DMSO, and 2-hour Calcium 6 dye incubation, showed excellent specificity and precision (inter-batch precision below 10% for 5-HT detection). Testing four known compounds (DOI, 5-MeO-DMT, LSD, and MDL100907) yielded Z'-factors above 0.85 and signal window values over 0.91 at EC80, with EC50 values in the nanomolar range. Applied to 38 known active compounds, it efficiently identified agonists and antagonists without responding to non-target compounds, confirming its reliability for screening antidepressants targeting the 5-HT2A receptor.