This study aimed to evaluate the long-term effectiveness and safety of esketamine in adults with Major depressive disorder (MDD), focusing on suicide-related events, all-cause mortality, and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs). This target-trial simulation used the TriNetX Global Collaborative Network. Adults (≥ 18 years) with MDD who received either esketamine or a conventional...
Acute suicidal ideation (SI) represents about 1% of all adult emergency department (ED) visits in the U.S. and has increased over the past few decades, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The discovery that a single subanesthetic dose of (R,S)-ketamine induces rapid and long-lasting antidepressant effects by a completely different mechanism represents one of the most substantial break-throughs in depression pharmacotherapy. The recent study in Nature by Yue and colleagues represents a signi fi cant conceptual and technical advance by identifying NMDA-independent transient...
Chronic ketamine exposure results in psychotic and cognitive symptoms that resemble those found in patients with schizophrenia. Emerging evidence suggests that patients with schizophrenia exhibit gut microbiota dysbiosis and decreased levels of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and BDNF, which are related to the severity of psychotic and cognitive symptoms. Dietary inulin can regulate gut...
Most of the Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) patients experience Treatment-Resistant Depression (TRD), wherein standard pharmaceutical and psychological interventions fail to provide adequate symptom relief. This systematic review and meta-analysis investigated the efficacy and safety of intranasal esketamine for rapid symptom relief in adults with TRD. The search strategy adhered to PRISMA...
Recent studies pioneered the use of classic hallucinogens as Rapid-Acting Antidepressants (RAAD). To further understand the link between their neuromodulatory and antidepressant effects, we combine pharmacodynamic profiles of four classic hallucinogens and the anaesthetic Ketamine with receptor density distributions from both Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and layer-resoluted...
BMC PsychiatryApril 6, 2026Michael Schlegelmilch, Amy C. Plint, Nicholas Barrowman et al.
BACKGROUND: Suicidal ideation (SI) is a common reason for emergency department (ED) visits by adolescents. While intravenous (IV) ketamine rapidly reduces SI in adults, its efficacy in adolescents remains unstudied. We assessed the feasibility of a trial of a single dose IV ketamine to reduce adolescent SI in the ED. METHODS: This double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled pilot trial was...
Aim: The present research is to evaluate the antioxidant and antipsychotic potential of Desmodium gangeticum on the ketamine-induced experimental psychosis model in rats with a focus on TNF-α Regulation. Materials and Methods: The root was collected, desiccated, and finely ground. Extraction was conducted using 98% ethanol in a Soxhlet apparatus. This study included a preliminary phytochemical...
Aim: This study explored the experiences of patients who received an analgesic or sedative (sub-anaesthetic) dose of prehospital ketamine and examined common themes. Background: Ketamine is a powerful dissociative anaesthetic used by prehospital critical care teams. Among its many effects are dissociative episodes, hallucinations and periods of amnesia. It is unclear how these affect patients'...
Yixue xinzhi zazhiApril 2, 2026Yao Wenzhuang, Zhang Hanyun, Liu Suman et al.
Objective To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of Esketamine on postpartum depression (PPD) in cesarean section women.Methods Databases including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library, CBM, CNKI, WanFang and VIP were searched from inception to March 2025 for RCTs investigating the impact of Esketamine on PPD in cesarean section parturients. RevMan 5.4 and Stata 18.0...
Ketamine is a well-established anesthetic agent that is gaining increasing recognition for its diverse therapeutic applications, including the management of chronic pain, refractory status epilepticus, major depressive disorder, and suicidality. Although it has been used clinically since the 1960s, multiple clinical trials with ketamine and esketamine in adults and pediatric populations are...
Over the past 25 years, the field of psychiatry has seen a rapid expansion of ketamine treatment services offered for the off-label management of depression, anxiety, and other psychiatric disorders as well as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of intranasal esketamine, the S-enantiomer of ketamine, for treatment-resistant depression and suicidal depression. In this review, the...
Patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) have higher rates of relapse and pronounced decreases in daily functioning and health-related quality of life compared to patients with major depressive disorder who are not treatment-resistant, underscoring the need for treatment choices with sustained efficacy and long-term tolerability. Adults with TRD who participated in ≥1 of 6 phase 3...
Introduction Schizophrenia involves dopaminergic dysregulation, oxidative stress, and glial activation within motor–cognitive circuits. Mangiferin, a polyphenolic C-glucoside from Mangifera indica, exerts antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects partly via modulation of nuclear factor erythroid 2–related factor 2 (Nrf2) signaling. This study evaluated whether mangiferin attenuates...
The interplay between cAMP/PKA and neuroplasticity involves intricate signaling pathways that are crucial for brain function and are frequently disrupted in schizophrenia. This study sought to examine the potential neuroprotective effects of formoterol on ketamine-induced schizophrenia-like behaviors with emphasis on several PKA downstream crucial targets for schizophrenia management. Male mice...
Clinics across the USA advertise ketamine as an alternative solution for mental health conditions. Ketamine has expanded into a multibillion-dollar industry, with three delivery models: (1) in-person clinics offering off-label racemic ketamine; (2) clinic visits for esketamine (Spravato); and (3) telehealth services prescribing off-label racemic ketamine. About half of the market encompasses...
Major depressive disorder (MDD) imposes a substantial burden worldwide, with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and major depressive disorder with acute suicidal ideation or behavior (MDSI) representing two of the most severe clinical challenges. Conventional antidepressants often require several weeks to exert benefit, leaving patients symptomatic and at risk during this delay. Esketamine...
PLoS MedicineApril 1, 2026Yifan Li, Vivien Kin Yi Chan, Mark Jit et al.
Treatment-resistant depression (TRD), defined as failure to respond to at least two adequately administered antidepressant (AD) regimens, imposes major clinical and economic burdens. Esketamine nasal spray offers rapid antidepressant clinical effects, yet previous evaluations compared it only with unrealistic comparators such as AD monotherapy. This study assessed the cost-effectiveness of...
Neuroimaging techniques offer valuable insights for understanding pharmacological treatment effects in neuropsychiatric disorders. Here, we present a novel approach that simultaneously assesses hemodynamic and neurometabolic brain responses to psychotropic drugs using interleaved pharmacological magnetic resonance imaging (phMRI) and pharmacological magnetic resonance spectroscopy (phMRS). This...
Ketamine, a non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonist, induces dissociative and psychotomimetic states and is widely used as an animal model for schizophrenia. However, strain-dependent variability in ketamine sensitivity is poorly understood, especially during adolescence, a developmental period marked by heightened vulnerability to NMDA receptor hypofunction. This study would compare...