Ketamine and the next generation of antidepressants with a rapid onset of action
Major depressive disorder (MDD)
MDD is a serious, recurrent, and disabling psychiatric condition that affects millions of individuals worldwide, and has a major impact on public health and productivity. The most common pharmacological treatments, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), were developed more than half a century ago which only show limited effectiveness for many patients and are severely lacking in efficacy. In addition to the issue of efficacy, the delayed onset of the therapeutic effects associated with standard antidepressants is still a major challenge in the treatment of MDD.
About the research
This paper discusses the recent research that has discovered ketamine’s astoundingly fast-acting antidepressant effects, thus opening the door to a new class of more effective, faster-acting compounds for treating depression.
Ketamine is an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonist and glutamate modulator, so this paper extrapolates that known information to analyze other glutamatergic compounds that could exhibit the same reproducible antidepressant effects.
Ketamine is now being accepted as one of the most effective treatments for MDD, and researchers are optimistic that its usage and further research is creating a positive cascade of improved treatment of depression.
