• Laura Bevilacqua, Alex Charney, Charlotte R Pierce, Samantha M Richards, Manish K Jha, Andrew Glasgow, Jess Brallier, Katherine Kirkwood, Emilia Bagiella, Dennis S Charney, and James W Murrough.
• Depression and Anxiety Center for Discovery and Treatment, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA.
• J. Psychopharmacol. (Oxford). 2021 Feb 1; 35 (2): 124-127.

AbstractKetamine is an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist with rapid antidepressant effects. Studies suggest that inhibition of nitric oxide synthesis plays a role in the mechanism of action of ketamine. This randomized, placebo-controlled study investigated whether co-administration of sodium nitroprusside, a nitric oxide donor, compared to placebo, would attenuate the antidepressant and dissociative effects of ketamine. Sixteen ketamine responders were randomized to a double-blind infusion of ketamine co-administered with placebo or sodium nitroprusside. Our findings show no difference between the two conditions suggesting that the nitric oxide pathway may not play a primary role in ketamine's antidepressant or dissociative effects. The study is registered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT03102736).

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