Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is prevalent in patients with advanced cancer, and can have a negative impact on patients' quality of life. Available antidepressants, often have delayed benefits of several weeks, and therefore are of limited utility in the palliative care setting. Psychostimulants provide more rapid onset of action, but frequently require dose escalation because of problems...
We investigated the immediate and enduring effects of ketamine in behavioral and neurochemical assays predictive of antidepressant activity. One week after a single administration of ketamine (50-160 mg/kg), otherwise experimentally naive rats and mice were tested either in the forced swim test (FST) or the tail suspension test (TST). Other mice were also tested twice in the FST: immediately...
BACKGROUND: The intravenous administration of ketamine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist, results in a great improvement of depression symptoms, but it is not clear for how long. This single-case trial was conducted to explore the duration of improvement and the effects of a second administration on the clinical outcome. METHODS: In an open label trial, a 55-year-old male patient...
In this article, we first review a study showing that the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist ketamine leads to rapid, robust, and relatively sustained antidepressant effects in patients with treatment-resistant major depression. We then discuss our hypothesis that the therapeutic effects of monoaminergic antidepressants and ketamine may be mediated by increased AMPA-to-NMDA...
BACKGROUND: Recently, reports from North America have indicated that the intravenous infusion of ketamine hydrochloride (an N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonist) results in a sudden and robust improvement of depression symptoms. OBJECTIVE: To corroborate antidepressant effectiveness of IV ketamine in a patient with a co-occurring substance use disorder for the first time in a European...
Noncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonists, such as ketamine, induce a transient schizophrenia-like state in healthy individuals and exacerbate psychosis in schizophrenic patients. In rodents, noncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonists induce a behavioral syndrome that represents an experimentally valid model of schizophrenia. Current experimental evidence has implicated the nucleus accumbens in...
In recent years, there has been a significant focus on exploring the potential therapeutic impact of altered states of consciousness on treatment outcomes for mental illness, with the goal of enhancing therapeutic strategies and patient results. This meta-analysis was designed to investigate the potential link between the psychomimetic effects of ketamine and clinical outcomes in mental health,...
Impulsive behaviours affect patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BP), increasing suicide risk and mood instability. Ketamine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonist, has been reported to promote fast-acting antidepressive and antisuicidal effects. Magnesium administered contemporarily with low-dose NMDA antagonists has been shown to cause a reduction...
Ketamine has emerged as a novel treatment for psychiatric disorders, particularly treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Although intravenous (IV) ketamine is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for TRD, esketamine, an FDA-approved therapeutic, has contributed to the widespread clinical use of off-label IV ketamine across the United States. This scoping review highlights...
Background: Intravenous ketamine and esketamine (ESK) produce rapid antidepressant action in treatment-resistant depression (TRD) patients, however dose response is not known. Study assessed efficacy, dose response and safety of intranasal ESK and ability to sustain response with gradual tapering of treatment frequency. Methods: In the Panel A (conducted in USA and Belgium) of this...