Ketamine as an antidepressant

Ketamine, known to clubbers as Special K and to law enforcement as the “date rape” drug, hasn’t always gotten favorable press. But Yale University Professor of Psychiatry Ronald Duman hopes to change that. He believes Ketamine is “like a magic drug” and hopes one day Ketamine will be known as a safe and effective treatment for people with depression.


Professor Duman points to research he and his team conducted and reported recently in the journal Science involving brain maps of rats that had been injected with Ketamine. After receiving the injections, the team observed that synaptic nerve connections previously damaged by stress showed signs of regeneration. This regeneration process is called synaptogenesis and it appears Ketamine may have a favorable effect on a pathway that assists in forming these important links between neurons. The mice that didn’t receive injections failed to exhibit signs of synaptogenesis. In addition, they concluded that a certain spot along this pathway is where proteins necessary for the formation of new synapses are produced.
But that wasn’t all. Professor Duman and his team observed a lessening of depression-like behavior in the rats that received the injections.


For a more in-depth understanding of depression try:

Undoing Depression: What Therapy Doesn't Teach You and Medication Can't Give You

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