Study Offers Hope for Faster-Acting Antidepressant

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Current antidepressants may take weeks or months to have an effect, leaving people suffering with depressive disorders frustrated and at risk for worsening symptoms, including suicide.

"In any other illness of depression's magnitude, patients aren't expected to just accept that their treatments won't start helping them for weeks or months. The value of our research on compounds like ketamine is that it tells us where to look for more precise targets for new kinds of medications that can close the gap," said NIMH Director Dr. Thomas R. Insel. "We're making tremendous progress."

By aiming pharmaceutical development at more specific molecular targets such as NMDA and AMPA, scientists may be able to reduce the wait for antidepressants to take effect. The researchers tested the effectiveness of compounds similar to ketamine on the NMDA receptor and found a similarly speedy relief of depression.

Ketamine is currently approved for use as an anesthetic, but its use is limited due to hallucinations during recovery. The doses used in this study were much smaller than the amount approved for anesthetic use.

More information

To learn more about depression, visit the National Institute of Mental Health.