The N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist ketamine has found broad application in the field of psychiatry. Due to its rapid antidepressant and anti-suicidal properties, it is used as a treatment for major depressive disorder. Furthermore, ketamine evokes dissociative and psychotropic states, which allows the modeling of schizophrenic symptoms. The thalamus, a main target for ketamine's...
Ketamine exerts rapid antidepressant effects by enhancing neuroplasticity, particularly in the amygdala and hippocampus-regions involved in fear processing and learning. While the role of ketamine's dissociative effects in its antidepressant response is debated, anxiety experienced during infusion has been negatively correlated with treatment outcomes. In this single-blind, placebo-controlled...