Depression: Ketamine quiets an unruly habenula.
Current Biology October 19, 2026 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2026.09.027 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Commentary Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Healthy subjects (as described in the reported study) |
| Intervention | Ketamine |
| Topics | Depression Esketamine Ketamine |
| Key points | Describes evidence suggesting that the roughly 24-hour window in which ketamine's antidepressant effects appear coincides with reduced habenula activation and reduced aversive learning in healthy subjects. No effect sizes, sample size, or statistical details are provided. |
Abstract
Ketamine's robust antidepressant effects often appear twenty-four hours after a single dose. A new study now provides evidence suggesting that this timepoint coincides with a quieting of habenula activation and reductions in aversive learning in healthy subjects.
In the evidence
This study is part of the evidence base for a synthesis in the library. Here is how each one recorded it.
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Describes evidence that the ~24-hour window of ketamine's antidepressant effects coincides with reduced habenula activation and aversive learning in healthy subjects, without effect sizes or statistics.
Synthesized
Citations in the library
Cites 7
- Ketamine Has Distinct Electrophysiological and Behavioral Effects in Depressed and Healthy Subjects Molecular Psychiatry February 27, 2018
- Sustained antidepressant effect of ketamine through NMDAR trapping in the LHb Nature October 18, 2023
- Brain region-specific action of ketamine as a rapid antidepressant. Science August 9, 2024
- Ketamine and the neurobiology of depression: Toward next-generation rapid-acting antidepressant treatments Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences November 27, 2023
- The cognitive neuroscience of ketamine in major depression. Brain June 30, 2025
and 2 more in the library