Growing evidence suggests that prolonged or repeated exposure to general anesthesia is associated with white matter alteration in children, which may underlie subsequent cognitive and behavioral abnormalities. Numerous infants undergo anesthesia for surgery each year, so it is imperative to identify the risk factors and find preventative treatment to prevent the effects of early anesthesia...
Subanesthetic-dose ketamine has recently been reported to improve hedonic pleasures associated with social interactions and altruism in individuals with treatment-resistant depression. However, whether ketamine-among other glutamate receptor modulators-also improves empathy and/or prosocial behavior in humans remains unknown. Under a framework grounded in neurobiology that proposes that...
The Schizophrenia Exome Sequencing Meta-Analysis (SCHEMA) Consortium found that truncation of one copy of the SP4 gene has an odds ratio of 9.37 (3.38-29.7) for schizophrenia (SCZ). Human SP4 gene is also one of the 69 schizophrenia-risk genes prioritized by parallel genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and one of the two schizophrenia-risk genes shared between the SCHEMA and the GWAS,...
Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) presents substantial clinical challenges, particularly in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and older adults experiencing late-life depression. Traditional monoaminergic therapies often fail in this population due to neurodegenerative changes that impact receptor dynamics and neurotransmitter systems. Emerging evidence suggests that N-methyl-D-aspartate...
Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) is associated with reduced quality of life and elevated mortality, posing a major challenge to psychiatric care. After non-response to conventional treatments, next-level interventions such as (es)ketamine are recommended, though remission rates remain variable. Identifying reliable markers of treatment response is therefore critical. Recent evidence...
Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) remains a challenge, but intravenous racemic ketamine offers rapid antidepressant effects. Reliable biomarkers are needed. In this study, we examined kynurenine pathway metabolites and inflammatory cytokines as predictors of ketamine response. The Bio-K study was a multicenter, open-label trial of 74 patients with TRD who received 3 ketamine infusions over...
NMDA antagonists like amantadine and memantine are considered third-line treatments for catatonia after benzodiazepines and ECT. NMDA antagonists can be used as monotherapy for catatonia but are most commonly employed as augmentation to benzodiazepines. Despite a 91% response rate in some cases, ketamine is not recommended for catatonia due to its unpredictability and potential to worsen symptoms.
NMDA-antagonisten zoals amantadine en memantine worden beschouwd als derdelijnsbehandelingen voor katatonie, na benzodiazepinen en ECT. NMDA-antagonisten kunnen als monotherapie worden ingezet bij katatonie, maar worden het meest gebruikt als augmentatie van benzodiazepinen. Ondanks een responspercentage van 91% in sommige gevallen, wordt ketamine niet aanbevolen bij katatonie vanwege de...
This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluates (1) the effectiveness of psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) using psilocybin and ketamine for psychosocial symptoms in adults with cancer, (2) contextualizes findings with non-randomized and exploratory studies of other psychedelics, and (3) examines the role of therapeutic frameworks in shaping outcomes. We searched PubMed, Cochrane Library,...
Ketamine has emerged as a putative rapid-acting treatment option for psychiatric disorders, particularly treatment-resistant depression. Chronic recreational ketamine use is associated with ketamine-induced urological toxicity, raising concerns over the safety of repeated ketamine treatments. This systematic review aimed to synthesise urological findings from clinical trials and observational...
Ketamine, originally synthesized in 1962, has gained increasing attention due to its rapid and sustained antidepressant effects in treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Unlike traditional antidepressants, ketamine acts on multiple neurotransmitter systems, including NMDA receptor antagonism and AMPA receptor potentiation, offering a novel mechanism for mood regulation. Beyond psychiatry,...
Ketamine's potential as a rapid-acting antidepressant was first identified in 2000, despite its long-standing use as an anesthetic agent. Clinically, ketamine alleviates depressive symptoms, including the difficult to treat symptom of anhedonia, within hours, with the effects of a single dose lasting for days. Since then, research has focused on uncovering the mechanisms underlying its rapid...
Ketamine, originally developed as an anesthetic, is gaining increasing attention due to its multifaceted pharmacological properties. In addition to its use in anesthesia, ketamine exerts potent analgesic effects via N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonism, modulating pain perception and reducing central sensitization, particularly in chronic and neuropathic pain conditions. Emerging...
The present study explored the behavioral stressing action of a 15-min forced swim test (FST) session, changes in CA3-medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) connection responsivity, and whether ketamine reverses such changes. Two groups of male Wistar rats were subjected to a 15-min FST session. Sixty minutes later, they were injected with either saline (stress [STR] SAL group) or ketamine (STR KET...
Rectal tenesmus is the painful sensation of incomplete evacuation of the bowels, which is distressing and difficult to manage. Tenesmus is often caused by rectal carcinoma. It is thought there is a significant neuropathic component to tenesmus pain. Ketamine is an antagonist to the N-methyl D-aspartate receptor and has been used for neuropathic pain. We describe the case of a man with...
Aims/Background To explore the effect of the preoperative administration of esketamine on stress indices in paediatric patients undergoing bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) under general anaesthesia. Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted to collect clinical data from children undergoing BAL under general anaesthesia in Tianjin Hospital of Tianjin University between February 2021 and...
Psychiatric ServicesJune 25, 2025Michael Liu, Rachel Branning, Austin Lee et al.2 citations
This study sought to investigate racial-ethnic disparities in the utilization of intravenous ketamine and intranasal esketamine therapy for major depressive disorder. The TriNetX platform was used to identify 861,179 patients diagnosed as having moderate-to-severe recurrent major depressive disorder between January 2019 and October 2024. Patients were divided into non-Hispanic White,...
Biological PsychiatryJune 25, 2025Kevin G Mulvihill, Gemma J Cockcroft, Angela C Roberts2 citations
Individual variability in pharmacological treatment efficacy remains a persistent obstacle to ameliorating clinical anxiety. This may originate, in part, from the different neural aetiologies underlying pathological anxiety. To provide novel insights into patient heterogeneity in anxiolytic responsiveness we compare the efficacy of distinct anxiolytic drugs, a Selective Serotonin Re-uptake...
bioRxiv Preprint ServerJune 24, 2025Marco German Ghilotti, Ricardo Petrilli Fortuna, Kofi Osei-Abrefa Ayensu et al.
preprint
Background The use of methamphetamine has continued to rise in the US. In addition to facilitating dopamine neurotransmission, methamphetamine indirectly increases glutamate release which activates N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs). Ketamine is a noncompetitive NMDAR antagonist. Ketamine also has actions on α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptors (AMPARs) and...
Ketamine and esketamine are two closely related compounds with fast-acting antidepressant properties that have reshaped the treatment landscape for individuals with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Originally developed as anesthetic agents, both have since demonstrated rapid and robust antidepressant effects in patients who have not responded to conventional treatments such as selective...