Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
October 21, 2026
Zuzanna Sulej, Magdalena Zielińska
Ketamine has revolutionized psych iatric treatment, challenging monoamine-based paradigms through its capacity for rapid antidepressant action. While N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonism remains the canonical mechanism, this integrative review proposes a multi-receptor, neuron–glia convergence model to help account for ketamine's therapeutic efficacy. We outline the well-established...
Current Biology
October 19, 2026
John H. Krystal
Ketamine's robust antidepressant effects often appear twenty-four hours after a single dose. A new study now provides evidence suggesting that this timepoint coincides with a quieting of habenula activation and reductions in aversive learning in healthy subjects.
Neuropharmacology
October 19, 2026
U S Drozd, V V Bulygina, G T Shishkina et al.
Exposure to acute, inescapable stress triggers a coordinated neural and endocrine response across corticolimbic and brainstem circuits. Although subanesthetic ketamine has rapid antidepressant effects, it is unclear whether its modulation of the stress-response network depends on the presence of an acute stressor. In this study, naïve rats received subanesthetic ketamine (15 mg/kg) or a...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
October 19, 2026
Jack R. Waters, Brian Madeira, Michael Neil Shadlen et al.
preprint
Time estimation is critical to many cognitive operations, including decision-making, working memory, and action planning. Neural correlates of interval timing have been described across multiple cortical and subcortical networks, both at a single-neuron level (as ramping activity) and population level (as dynamical motifs). Low-dose ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic and potent antidepressant,...
BMC Medical Ethics
October 18, 2026
Adrian Kind, Josephine Görke, Hannah Smirr et al.
Abstract Background Treatments with acute consciousness-altering effects, such as (es)ketamine, place patients in a state of heightened vulnerability with reduced capacity for self-advocacy and self-regulation. Since feeling safe is a precondition for consenting to begin, and remaining in, treatment, this raises distinct ethical demands on care. Which features of the setting enable patients to...
Drug Design, Development and Therapy
October 17, 2026
Zhaoying Zhong, Baozhen Liao, Donglan Peng et al.
Pain, depressive symptoms, and sleep disruption frequently overlap during the peripartum period, although their relationships are associative rather than established as causal. Esketamine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist, has attracted interest as a peripartum intervention with potential effects on pain, mood, and sleep. This narrative review evaluates the clinical and mechanistic...
Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry
October 17, 2026
Fionnghuala L J James, Sayed K Ahamed, Cheng-I Yang et al.
Traumatic memories that are resistant to modification or extinction are a characteristic feature of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The process of fear memory reconsolidation has been identified as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of PTSD. Ketamine, an NMDA receptor antagonist with dissociative properties, has been identified as a drug with high therapeutic potential for...
BMC Psychiatry
October 16, 2026
Morfeas Koumas, Markos Apostolakis, Evanthia Bella et al.
Abstract Background Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a chronic relapsing condition associated with substantial mortality. Although medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) can be effective in reducing opioid use and improving treatment outcomes, relapse to drug use remains common, highlighting the need for adjunctive interventions that address relapse-relevant symptoms not fully targeted by MOUD...
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
October 15, 2026
Ana Zivanovic, Iva Lukic, Emilija Glavonic et al.
Ketamine produces rapid antidepressant-like effects across a range of subanesthetic doses, yet how dose shapes behavioral efficacy and region-specific molecular signaling following adolescent chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) is not well understood. Here, we examined the behavioral and molecular consequences of two subanesthetic ketamine doses in adult mice with depression-like behavior...
Epigenetics
October 15, 2026
Arghavan Nepton, Sonya C. Faber, Zachary A. Kaminsky et al.
Ketamine produces rapid antidepressant effects, but the molecular processes associated with their persistence remain poorly defined in humans. We examined longitudinal DNA methylation changes in 10 adults with major depressive disorder undergoing ketamine-assisted psychotherapy using two pre-treatment assessments (T1, T2) and one post-treatment assessment (T3). Participants received three...