Biochemical pharmacology
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Biochemical pharmacology · Jul 2020
ReviewMolecular mechanisms of the rapid-acting and long-lasting antidepressant actions of (R)-ketamine.
Ketamine, an anesthetic developed in the early 1960s, is also a popular abused drug among young people at dance parties and raves and among spiritual seekers, because it produces schizophrenia-like symptoms and dissociation (i.e., out-of-body experience). Regarding mood disorders, ketamine exerts robust antidepressant actions in treatment-resistant patients with depression. Ketamine is a racemic mixture comprising equal parts of (R)-ketamine (or arketamine) and (S)-ketamine (or esketamine). ⋯ A recent RNA-sequencing analysis suggested that the transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) plays a role in the antidepressant effects of (R)-ketamine. A recent pilot study demonstrated that (R)-ketamine had rapid-acting and sustained antidepressant effects in treatment-resistant patients with depression. In this article, the author reviews the mechanisms of the antidepressant actions of the enantiomers of ketamine and its metabolites, (S)-norketamine and (2R,6R)-hydroxynorketamine (HNK) and discusses the role of the brain-gut-microbiota axis and brain-spleen axis in stress-related psychiatric disorders, such as depression.