According to Yale, “the rapid therapeutic response of ketamine in treatment-resistant patients is the biggest breakthrough in depression research in a half century.”

"Many chronically depressed and treatment-resistant patients experience immediate relief from symptoms after taking small amounts of the drug ketamine. For a decade, scientists have been trying to explain the observation first made at Yale University."

Breakthrough treatment for depression and anxiety patients

Ketamine provides patients with symptom relief even when no other treatments have worked. This is because ketamine "helps regenerate synaptic connections between brain cells damaged by stress and depression."

"'The rapid therapeutic response of ketamine in treatment-resistant patients is the biggest breakthrough in depression research in a half century,' said Ronald Duman, the Elizabeth Mears and House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Neurobiology."

Ketamine affects two primary neurotransmitters in the brain: GABA and glutamate. GABA is inhibitory: when a GABA receptor is activated, it decreases the likelihood that its host neuron will fire. Glutamate is excitatory: when a glutamate receptor is activated, it increases the probability that the host neuron will fire.

Ketamine functionally blocks the gate, which prevents the signal from passing through it. This results in bursts of increases in glutamate levels in the brain.

Picture a bunch of people trying to get into your house for a party. If you block all the doors, they’re not going to come in, but they will party in the street. In this metaphor, glutamate is the people and ketamine is the bouncer blocking the door to your house. Because they can’t get into your house, the glutamate is increased in the street, in this case, your brain.

Learn more about the mechanisms of ketamine in treatment resistant depression here:

"In their research, Duman and others show that in a series of steps ketamine triggers release of neurotransmitter glutamate, which in turn stimulates growth of synapses. Research at Yale has shown that damage of these synaptic connections caused by chronic stress is rapidly reversed by a single dose of ketamine."

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Read the full article here: https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/4112/