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“'Major' Ketamine Discovery May Lead to New Antidepressants
The possibility of an antidepressant that delivers ketamine's rapid antidepressant effects but none of its potential harms may be one step closer, new research shows.
Investigators at the National Institute of Health (NIMH) have discovered that ketamine rapidly lifts depression via a by-product of its metabolism. This metabolite singularly reversed depression-like behaviors in mice without triggering any of the anesthetic, dissociative, or addictive side effects associated with ketamine.
"This discovery changes our understanding of how this rapid antidepressant mechanism works and holds promise for the development of more robust and safer treatments," study investigator Carlos Zarate, MD, National Institute of Mental Health, Methesda, Maryland, said in a statement."Ketamine is a reasonable option to consider when patients have tried everything else, as long as it's in the right hands and given at the right time," Dr Zarate told Medscape Medical News."But if you had an alternative drug that works rapidly but which doesn't have any risk of addiction or cause any of ketamine's side effects, you open up the possibility of many others being able to receive an alternative to ketamine," he added.
The study, led by Panos Zanos, PhD, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, was published online May 4th in Nature.‖
(Adapted from: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/863115)
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