INTRODUCTION: The authors describe the medications for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) in phase II/III of clinical development in the EU and USA and provide an opinion on how current treatment can be improved in the near future. Areas covered: Sixty-two trials were identified in US and EU clinical trial registries that included six investigational compounds in recent phase III development...
Growing evidence indicates that serotonergic neurons play a crucial role in brain function and dysfunction, such as in major depressive disorder. However, the complexity of serotonergic projections severely hampers the elucidation of their precise mechanisms. Here we summarize our recent studies on the effects of ketamine and olanzapine, which have been reported to be effective in...
Major depressive disorder is a severe and complex mental disorder. Impaired neurotransmission and disrupted signalling pathways may influence neuroplasticity, which is involved in the brain dysfunction in depression. Traditional neurobiological theories of depression, such as monoamine hypothesis, cannot fully explain the whole picture of depressive disorders. In this review, we discussed new...
Anesthetic agents are neurotropic drugs capable of inducing significant alterations in the thalamocortical system, promoting a profound decrease in awareness and level of consciousness. There is experimental evidence that general anesthesia affects large-scale functional networks, leading to alterations in the brain's state. However, the specific impact on the network structure assumed by...
Schizophrenia ResearchNovember 1, 2016David A Cox, Michael G Gottschalk, Hendrik Wesseling et al.
Pharmacological and genetic rodent models of schizophrenia play an important role in the drug discovery pipeline, but quantifying the molecular similarity of such models with the underlying human pathophysiology has proved difficult. We developed a novel systems biology methodology for the direct comparison of anterior prefrontal cortex tissue from four established glutamatergic rodent models...
Novel psychoactive substances (NPSs) continue to emerge in the United States and worldwide. Few epidemiological studies have examined the prevalence and correlates of use. We examined the extent of NPS use in a high-risk population-attendees of electronic dance music (EDM) parties at nightclubs and festivals. We surveyed 682 adults (age 18-25) entering EDM events at nightclubs and festivals in...
Treatment-resistant mood and anxiety disorders require an intensive therapeutic approach, and it should balance benefits and adverse effects or other potential detrimental effects of medications. The goal of treatment is to provide consistent and lasting improvement in symptoms of depression and anxiety. Beozodiazepines are effective for anxiety symptoms, but with no sustained treatment...
The popularity of designer drugs has increased over the past few years as users seek new, cheap and sometimes "legal" ways to get high. This case report focuses on a case that happened in the City of Henderson, Nevada, which involved the designer drug methoxetamine. Methoxetamine is a psychoactive compound that is structurally related to ketamine and reported to have similar effects. These...
While the problem of methamphetamine still lingers, NPS have emerged as a new issue in both countries. However, the NPS pattern was different between Taiwan and Korea. Although the controlled NPS items in Taiwan were far less than those in Korea, the quantity of total NPS seizures, especially with ketamine, was much larger in Taiwan than in Korea. Different NPS pattern may also imply they were...
Pain MedicineSeptember 1, 2016K. Maskell, Michael D. Bailey, S. R. Rose
Dear Editor, Methoxetamine (MXE) is a non-scheduled arylcyclohexylamine drug of abuse with clinical effects similar to ketamine or phencyclidine [1]. We report a case of MXE toxicity after self-medicating for treatment of chronic foot pain. A 29-year-old man was brought to the emergency department (ED) for altered mental status. He was apprehended by police after running into the street and...