International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice
March 2017
Christoph Kraus, Ulrich Rabl, Thomas Vanicek et al.
Clinical trials demonstrated that ketamine exhibits rapid antidepressant efficacy when administered in subanaesthetic dosages. We reviewed currently available literature investigating efficacy, response rates and safety profile. Twelve studies investigating unipolar, seven on bipolar depression were included after search in medline, scopus and web of science. Randomized, placebo-controlled or...
Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation
March 1, 2017
Ian M. Anderson, Andrew M. Blamire, Tim Branton et al.
15 citations
Background Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the most effective acute treatment for severe depression, but there are concerns about its adverse cognitive effects. ECT may impair cognition through stimulation of glutamate receptors, and preliminary evidence has suggested that ketamine, a glutamate antagonist, may alleviate these effects. Ketamine has been shown to have a rapid, but temporary,...
Drugs
March 1, 2017
Marc S. Lener, Bashkim Kadriu, Carlos A. Zarate
Clinical and preclinical studies suggest that dysfunction of the glutamatergic system is implicated in mood disorders such as major depressive disorder and bipolar depression. In clinical studies of individuals with major depressive disorder and bipolar depression, rapid reductions in depressive symptoms have been observed in response to subanesthetic-dose ketamine, an agent whose mechanism of...
Behavioural Pharmacology
February 2017
Mariusz Papp, Piotr Gruca, Magdalena Lason-Tyburkiewicz et al.
Ketamine is the prototype of a new generation of antidepressant drugs, which is reported in clinical studies to be effective in treatment-resistant patients, with an effect that appears within hours and lasts for a few days. Chronic mild stress (CMS) is a well-established and widely used animal model of depression, in which anhedonia, anxiogenesis and cognitive dysfunction can be observed...
Comprehensive Psychiatry
February 2017
Verònica Gálvez, Stevan Nikolin, Kerrie-Anne Ho et al.
Animal studies suggest that neural plasticity may play a role in the antidepressant effects of a single ketamine dose. However, the potential effects of repeated ketamine treatments on human neuroplasticity are unknown. This pilot RCT study measured plasticity-induced changes before and after a ketamine course, in three treatment-resistant depressed subjects, who were randomized to receive 8...
Journal of Affective Disorders
January 15, 2017
Steven Pennybaker, Mark J. Niciu, David A. Luckenbaugh et al.
Antidepressant response to a single subanesthetic dose infusion of the glutamatergic modulator ketamine is transient in most depressed patients; however, a minority continue to experience an extended response. This study examined depressive symptoms and potential clinical predictors of extended response to ketamine in subjects with mood disorders. Subjects were diagnosed with either major...
CNS & Neurological Disorders - Drug Targets
2017
Gustavo Vazquez, Sebastian Camino, Leonardo Tondo et al.
Treatments for depression in bipolar disorder (BD) are far less well developed than for unipolar major depressive disorder. Several innovative and experimental approaches have been emerging recently, including use of the dissociative anesthetic ketamine and other antagonists of central NMDA glutamate receptors, as well as unsaturated fatty acids, anti-inflammatory agents, and possibly probiotic...
Neuropharmacology
January 2017
Melanie Clarke, Sara Razmjou, Natalie Prowse et al.
Considerable recent attention has focused on the rapid antidepressant effects observed in treatment resistant patients produced by the NMDA receptor antagonist, ketamine. Surprisingly, the effects of ketamine in the context of stressor exposure, as well as the consequences of its chronic use are unclear. Thus, we assessed the impact of acute and repeated ketamine treatment together with acute...
Journal of Psychiatric Research
January 2017
Minkyung Park, Laura E Newman, Philip W Gold et al.
Several pro-inflammatory cytokines have been implicated in depression and in antidepressant response. This exploratory analysis assessed: 1) the extent to which baseline cytokine levels predicted positive antidepressant response to ketamine; 2) whether ketamine responders experienced acute changes in cytokine levels not observed in non-responders; and 3) whether ketamine lowered levels of...
Mental Health Clinician
January 2017
Sarah E Grady, Travis A Marsh, Allison Tenhouse et al.
Over the past decade, ketamine has been studied for major depressive disorder and bipolar depression. Ketamine is believed to exert its antidepressant properties through N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonism. Study authors completed a literature review of seven randomized controlled trials of ketamine usage in major depressive disorder and bipolar depression. Ketamine demonstrated a...