Esketamine's Therapeutic Effect on Anhedonia: A Post-hoc of a Randomized Controlled Trial
Research Square July 20, 2026
Esketamine's Therapeutic Effect on Anhedonia: A Post-hoc of a Randomized Controlled Trial
25 results for "Meta-analysis: What did research on Ketamine find in July 2026?"
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Antidepressant-like effects of ketamine involve CX3CL1/CX3CR1 signaling-mediated synaptic plasticity in the mPFC
Translational Psychiatry July 20, 2026 Yong-Yu Yin, Si-Rui Sun, Hui-Ying Zhang et al.
Ketamine, a non-competitive N-methyl-D-aspartate acid (NMDA) receptor antagonist, produces rapid and sustained antidepressant actions, but the underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear. The CX 3 CL1/CX 3 CR1 signaling is closely related to mood disorders, and this study aims to investigate its role in ketamine’s antidepressant actions. We pharmacologically (AZD8797, a selective CX 3 CR1...
Sustained abstinence in severe ketamine use disorder following ibogaine treatment case report
Frontiers in Psychiatry July 20, 2026 Sergio Pérez Rosal, Sonya C. Faber, Markus Backmund
Substance use disorders (SUD) involving ketamine, cocaine, and alcohol present significant clinical challenges, often characterized by high relapse rates and limited pharmacological options. This case report details a 30-year-old male with a five-year history of severe polysubstance dependence, including daily intranasal ketamine use (2–3 g/day), cocaine, and alcohol, comorbid with recurrent...
Ketamine-induced analgesia and dissociation show distinct behavioral and neural correlates
Neuropsychopharmacology July 20, 2026 Noam Goldway, Itamar Jalon, Yara Agbaria et al.
Abstract Ketamine produces both analgesic and dissociative effects, but whether analgesia depends on dissociation remains debated. This question is part of a broader discussion on whether the subjective experiences elicited by psychoactive drugs are necessary for their therapeutic benefits. Here, we tested whether ketamine-induced analgesia and dissociation show separable behavioral and neural...
(Es)ketamine in functional neurological disorder: a systematic review
Frontiers in Psychiatry July 20, 2026 Bruce Tamilson, Michael Chitolie, Jan Coebergh et al.
Background and aimFunctional neurological disorder (FND) is a common and disabling condition for which effective treatments remain limited. Clinical outcomes are often variable, particularly in chronic and comorbid presentations. Ketamine and esketamine are increasingly used across a range of neuropsychiatric conditions. This review aimed to synthesise the existing evidence regarding their use...
Intranasal Ketamine Alleviates Depressive-like Behaviors in Chronic Unpredictable Mild Stress Rats in Association with Hypothalamic NADH:Ubiquinone Oxidoreductase Subunit A10.
European Journal of Pharmacology July 19, 2026 Yongning Lv, Zihe Yang, Linjie Li et al.
Intranasal ketamine represents a rapid and minimally invasive antidepressant strategy, yet the molecular mechanisms underlying its antidepressant-like effects after intranasal administration remain incompletely understood. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to a 28-day chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) paradigm and then received intranasal racemic ketamine at 8.58 mg/kg twice weekly...
Clinical guidance on the use of esketamine nasal spray for patients with treatment resistant depression: A European Delphi consensus report.
European neuropsychopharmacology : the journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology July 17, 2026 Allan H. Young, Bernhard T Baune, Beatrice Benatti et al.
Esketamine nasal spray (NS) is an established treatment for patients with treatment resistant depression (TRD). To further optimise real-world outcomes, consensus is needed regarding strategies to enhance patient outcomes and decision-making factors for pivotal timepoints in esketamine NS treatment. This modified Delphi panel (3 rounds) established expert consensus (≥80% agreement) from 30...
Ketamine for substance use disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Frontiers in Psychiatry July 17, 2026 Shu-Ping Fang, Xin Yang, Da-Cong Zhao et al.
Introduction Substance use disorder (SUD) is a major global health issue, contributing significantly to the disease burden. Despite this, effective treatments for SUD remain limited. Ketamine has shown potential as a treatment, yet no meta-analysis has assessed its efficacy for SUD. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ketamine in treating SUD. Methods Multiple databases were...
Beyond Monoamines: Ketamine, Esketamine, and Classic Psychedelics in the Treatment of Depression
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) July 17, 2026 Bartosz Niciński, Magdalena Kloc, Ewa Wiench, Natasza Millan, Aleksandra Blicharz, Wojciech Kozdraś, Lidia Kozaczko, Gabriela Szewczyk, Elżbieta Bukowczan, Alicja Zając, Damian Broda, Alicja Benecka
Major depressive disorder is a highly burdensome psychiatric condition worldwide, and many patients do not achieve full remission after standard monoaminergic antidepressant treatment. This has contributed to growing interest in rapid-acting antidepressant interventionstargeting neurobiological pathways beyond traditional serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine mechanisms. This review...
Psychedelic Therapies in the Management of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Journal of Education Health and Sport July 16, 2026 Jakub Bajer, Aleksandra Włodarczyk, Hubert Kulawinek et al.
Background. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an important public health challenge typically treated with trauma-focused psychotherapy and Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs). However, high rates of residual symptoms associated with these standard treatments have led to a renewed interest in psychedelic-assisted therapies. Aim. This review attempts to examine emerging...
Serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor following oral esketamine in treatment-resistant depression: Results from a randomized placebo-controlled trial.
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...
Predictors of responsiveness to ketamine: An updated systematic review of neuroimaging findings.
Journal of Affective Disorders July 15, 2026 Iman Kiani, Giulia Cattarinussi, Fabio Sambataro et al.
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a leading cause of disability worldwide, with a significant portion of patients experiencing treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Ketamine, a rapid-acting antidepressant, has shown promise in alleviating symptoms of TRD and suicidality, but variability in treatment response remains a challenge. Identifying neuroimaging biomarkers that predict responsiveness...
Erratum to: Calcium/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase II and Eukaryotic Elongation Factor 2 Kinase Pathways Mediate the Antidepressant Action of Ketamine.
Biol Psychiatry July 14, 2026 correction
Erratum to: Calcium/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase II and Eukaryotic Elongation Factor 2 Kinase Pathways Mediate the Antidepressant Action of Ketamine.
NMDA Receptor Modulation as a Bidirectional Axis: Reframing Ketamine's Antagonism Against Glycine-Site Enhancement, with a Proposed Extension to Sleep-Disrpted
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) July 14, 2026 Melissa Carter
This paper proposes treating N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor modulation as a single bidirectional pharmacological axis, with ketamine (an NMDA antagonist) and glycine-site enhancers such as sarcosine and D-serine (NMDA agonists/enhancers) sitting at opposite poles. Both directions have documented human trial evidence, but in separate literatures — ketamine in anesthesia and depression...
Interrogating roles for VTA dopamine neurons in locomotion and ultrasonic vocalizations elicited by different classes of rewarding drugs.
Psychopharmacology July 14, 2026 Kate A Lawson, Stephen V Mahler
In humans, researchers can readily query the subjective states elicited by drugs of abuse, but no such introspective readout is currently available in rodents. Rats can convey information relevant to their internal states via ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs). We sought to measure USVs and locomotor behavior as parallel behavioral indices of the effects of drugs and ventral tegmental area...
Treatment-resistant Depression in the Post-ketamine Era: Unmet Needs beyond Rapid Response
Clinical Psychopharmacology and Neuroscience July 14, 2026 Alessandro Serretti
The introduction of ketamine and its S-enantiomer, esketamine, has been one of the most consequential advances in treatment-resistant depression (TRD) in recent decades, demonstrating that rapid and clinically meaningful antidepressant effects can occur within hours, even in patients who have not responded to conventional treatments.However, this advance has not resolved the clinical problem of...
Is the reduction in suicidal ideation and deliberate self-harm during intranasal esketamine treatment independent of antidepressant response? A secondary, longitudinal analysis of a real-world TRD cohort with and without comorbid borderline personality disorder
Open MIND July 13, 2026 Vassilis Martiadis, Fabiola Raffone
In acute trials of intravenous and intranasal ketamine/esketamine, the rapid anti-suicidal effect appears to be at least partly independent of the overall antidepressant response. That question has, to our knowledge, never been examined in a real-world esketamine cohort followed for six months, nor in a sample enriched for comorbid borderline personality disorder (BPD), a population excluded...
Longitudinal dream-content shift and void-like dissociative phenomenology around outpatient ketamine infusions in chronic low back pain: a case report.
Journal of Medical Case Reports July 13, 2026 Kei Torii, Ryo Nishitani
Altered-state phenomenology around ketamine may relate to longer-term changes in imaginal processes, but observations across routine care are scarce. We report an educational case focusing on pre-defined dream motifs over time, without making treatment efficacy claims. A 48-year-old Japanese man with severe chronic primary low back pain reported dreams during insight-oriented psychotherapy from...
Enhancing plasticity to treat depression and other central nervous system diseases using event-driven pharmacology.
Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) July 13, 2026 Todd D Gould, Sanjay J. Mathew, Maurizio Fava et al.
The occupancy-driven pharmacology model in psychopharmacology has guided drug discovery and development for decades, whereby the goal is stable receptor occupancy over an extended period with a direct relationship of drug exposure to pharmacodynamic and therapeutic response. Event-driven pharmacology (EDP) is a concept where the acute pharmacodynamic actions of a plastogen, a transient binding...
S-ketamine, but not R-ketamine, transiently suppresses front-loaded binge-like alcohol self-administration in male rats
July 12, 2026 Fahd François Hilal, Méléna Dreinaza, Quentin Lebel et al.
Background and Purpose: Ketamine has emerged as a promising treatment candidate for alcohol use disorder (AUD), yet whether its S- and R-enantiomers differentially regulate ongoing binge-like alcohol self-administration remains unknown. We compared the acute and repeated effects of S- and R-ketamine in a chronic binge-like, front-loaded operant alcohol self-administration paradigm. Experimental...
Brain-targeted epigenetic effects of two emerging psychoplastogens: ketamine & MDMA
Translational Psychiatry July 11, 2026 Moira G. Semple, Sarah E. Mennenga, Ryan Smith et al.
Psychoplastogen compounds such as ketamine and MDMA have shown therapeutic promise for mood and trauma-related disorders, yet the molecular mechanisms underlying their effects remain poorly understood. Here, we applied a Brain-Epigenome-Wide Association Study (BEWAS) targeting brain-relevant genes to examine DNA methylation changes following treatment. Pre- and post-treatment blood (ketamine, N...
Epigenetic landscapes of classical psychedelics and ketamine: molecular mechanisms of long-lasting neuromodulation
Molecular Psychiatry July 10, 2026 Cong Lin, Xiaohui Wang
Classic psychedelics such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin, N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), and mescaline induce lasting changes in neuroplasticity and behavior that extend far beyond their acute pharmacological effects. Emerging evidence highlights that these enduring therapeutic benefits in neuropsychiatric conditions may be significantly mediated through complex epigenetic...
Quick protocol for depression with intravenous ketamine.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) July 9, 2026
Intravenous ketamine is used for treatment-resistant depression, with structured guidelines supporting its use, but requires careful patient monitoring due to potential side effects and variable efficacy.
Ketamine Metabolites Promote Anxiolysis and Hydrocortisone Stress Buffering in Zebrafish.
Behavioural Brain Research July 9, 2026 Jeffrey R Kelly, Lindsey S Brasfield, Aryssa H Kelsey et al.
Anxiety and stress-related disorders affect over 280 million individuals worldwide and remain inadequately treated by current pharmacotherapies, which are often limited in efficacy and tolerability. Ketamine produces rapid therapeutic effects in mood and anxiety disorders, but its clinical use is constrained by dissociative side effects and abuse liability. Ketamine metabolites, particularly (2...