Effect of Acute Ketamine Treatment on Sympathetic Regulation Indexed by Electrodermal Activity in Adolescent Major Depression.
Veronika Kovacova, Andrea Macejova, Ingrid Tonhajzerova, Zuzana Visnovcova, Nikola Ferencova, Zuzana Mlyncekova, Tomas Kukucka, Ivan Farsky, Slavomir Nosal, Igor Ondrejka
Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) March 10, 2024 DOI: 10.3390/ph17030358 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Pre-post intervention study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 20 |
| Population | Hospitalized adolescent girls with major depressive disorder |
| Intervention | Ketamine |
| Duration | Single infusion, assessed before and two hours after administration |
| Topics | Depression Ketamine Esketamine |
| Keywords | Adolescence Depressive symptomatology Electrodermal activity Severe episode Sympathetic regulation Ketamine therapy: ketamine Ketamine infusion Acute treatment Rapid antidepressant Antidepressant therapy Youth depression Adolescent mental health Autonomic nervous system Physiological markers Biomarker |
| Citations | 4 |
| Key points | Ketamine infusion significantly reduced depressive symptoms in adolescents with major depressive disorder without significantly affecting electrodermal activity. |
Abstract
Ketamine is a potential rapid-onset antidepressant characterized by sympathomimetic effects. However, the question of ketamine's use in treating adolescents' major depressive disorder (MDD) is still discussed. Thus, we aimed to study the acute effect of ketamine infusion treatment on sympathetic regulation using electrodermal activity (EDA) in addition to an assessment of depressive symptomatology in MDD adolescents. Twenty hospitalized adolescent girls with MDD (average age: 15.0 ± 1.46 yrs.) were examined before and two hours after a single intravenous infusion of ketamine. EDA was continuously recorded for 6 min, and depressive symptoms were assessed before and two hours after ketamine administration. The evaluated parameters included skin conductance level (SCL), nonspecific electrodermal responses (NS-SCRs), MADRS (questions no. 1-10, total score), and CDI (items A-E, total score). EDA parameters showed no significant changes after the ketamine treatment, and depressive symptoms were significantly reduced after the ketamine infusion. The analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between index SCL and CDI-A, CDI-E, and the total CDI score and between index NS-SCRs and MADRS no. 4 before the ketamine treatment. In conclusion, ketamine improved depressive symptomatology without a significant effect on EDA, indicating its potential safety and efficiency as an acute antidepressant intervention in adolescent MDD.
Comparable studies
Other non-randomized and open-label trials on ketamine for depression, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rapid Resolution of Suicidal Ideation After a Single Infusion of anN-Methyl-D-Aspartate Antagonist in Patients With Treatment-Resistant Major Depressive Disorder Subjects with DSM-IV-diagnosed treatment-resistant major depressive disorder | 2010 | Open-label trial | n = 33 |
| Esketamine Nasal Spray Plus Oral Antidepressant in Patients With Treatment-Resistant Depression Adults (≥ 18 years) with treatment-resistant depression | 2020 | Phase 3, open-label, multicenter, long-term study | n = 802 |
| Intravenous arketamine for treatment-resistant depression: open-label pilot study Humans with treatment-resistant depression | 2020 | Open-label pilot trial | n = 7 |
| A Phase 2 Open Label Study of Efficacy, Safety, and Tolerability of SLS-002 (Intranasal Racemic Ketamine) in Adults with MDD at Imminent Risk of Suicide. Hospitalized patients with Major Depressive Disorder and acute suicidal ideation and... | 2024 | Open label study | n = 17 |
| Ketamine Safety and Tolerability in Clinical Trials for Treatment-Resistant Depression Participants with DSM-IV-defined major depressive disorder and treatment-resistant... | 2014 | Pooled analysis of three clinical trials | n = 97 |