Ketamine and other similar anesthetics have a fast-acting antidepressant effect, according to a new study in mice published this week in the journal Nature , which opens up a new avenue for the drastic treatment of severe depression .
Experiments show that this drug, which has been used as an anesthetic in humans, can alleviate the symptoms of depression in a matter of hours, and that its effects last up to two weeks. To explain this effect, neuroscientist Lisa Monteggia and her colleagues from the University of Texas (USA) studied how the substance acts on the brain. And they found that in low doses, and administered intravenously, ketamine, which is a blocker of NMDA receptors in the brain, increases the expression of a specific growth factor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), associated with antidepressant effects. How quickly it works could be of great importance in treating high-risk depressed individuals, such as patients with suicidal tendencies.
