(R,S)-ketamine produces rapid and significant antidepressant effects in approximately 65% of patients suffering from treatment-resistant bipolar depression (BD). The genetic, pharmacological and biochemical differences between ketamine responders and non-responders have not been identified. The purpose of this study was to employ a metabolomics approach, a global, non-targeted determination of...
BACKGROUND: Preliminary evidence suggests intravenous ketamine has rapid effects on suicidal cognition, making it an attractive candidate for depressed patients at imminent risk of suicide. In the first randomized controlled trial of ketamine using an anesthetic control condition, we tested ketamine's acute effects on explicit suicidal cognition and a performance-based index of implicit...
Stress and depression are associated with atrophy and loss of neurons in limbic and cortical brain regions that could contribute to the symptoms of depression. Typical monoamine reuptake inhibitor antidepressants have only modest efficacy and require long-term treatment, and are only weakly effective in blocking or reversing these structural changes caused by stress. Recent findings demonstrate...
Abstract By combining transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) with intravenous ketamine therapy, we sought to increase the therapeutic value of TMS and, at the same time, to improve the efficacy of intravenous ketamine therapy among depressed patients previously classified as non-responders. In this preliminary report, we provide evidence for a new and much more reliable method of treating...
The N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist ketamine has rapid and potent antidepressant effects in treatment-resistant major depressive disorder and bipolar depression. These effects are in direct contrast to the more modest effects seen after weeks of treatment with classic monoaminergic antidepressants. Numerous open-label and case studies similarly validate ketamine's antidepressant...
Ketamine produces rapid antidepressant effects in treatment-resistant depression (TRD), but the magnitude of response varies considerably between individual patients. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been investigated as a biomarker of treatment response in depression and has been implicated in the mechanism of action of ketamine. We evaluated plasma BDNF and associations with...
OBJECTIVES: Ketamine, an N-methyl d-aspartate (NMDA) antagonist, has rapid antidepressant effects in depressed subjects with bipolar disorder (BD). Evidence supports a role for the glutamatergic system in the pathophysiology of BD. This double-blind, randomized, cross-over study sought to determine cerebral metabolic correlates of antidepressant response to ketamine. METHODS: Twenty-one...
OBJECTIVE: Ketamine, a glutamate N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, has shown rapid antidepressant effects, but small study groups and inadequate control conditions in prior studies have precluded a definitive conclusion. The authors evaluated the rapid antidepressant efficacy of ketamine in a large group of patients with treatment-resistant major depression. METHOD: This was a...
Several recent studies have shown that a single intravenous subanesthetic dose of ketamine, a NMDA receptor antagonist, exerts rapid antidepressant effects in patients with treatment refractory mood disorders and reduces suicidal ideation. Those insights have fueled tremendous excitement in the efforts to elucidate the mechanism underlying ketamine's antidepressant properties in animal models...
Ketamine (Ketalar®) is an anesthetic agent derived from the hallucinogenic drug phencyclidine (PCP). It is a high-affinity antagonist at N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors and also binds to opioid mu and sigma receptors. Ketamine is being intensively investigated as an antidepressant therapy. To date, five short-term controlled studies and other open-label studies in patients with unipolar or...