Ketamine studies anesthetics for the treatment of depression

Known anesthetic: Ketamine as a quick relief in depression
For years, there are no really new drugs for the treatment of mental illness. However, remedies that have actually been developed for a completely different purpose can obviously help. For example, the anesthetic Ketamine is a rapid aid for depression.

Hardly any new drugs in the past decades
People who suffer from depression have often had several unsuccessful medication therapies. Antidepressants are often not effective. There were hardly any new drugs in recent years. According to experts, today's drugs are still based on the same mechanisms of action as a few decades ago. Hope makes news about funds that were not actually developed for the treatment of mental illness, such as ketamine.

Ketamine is actually used as an anesthetic and for the treatment of pain. The drug also works well against depression. (Image: Zerbor / fotolia.com)

Anesthetic is also used as a party drug
Ketamine is a drug that is used in particular as an anesthetic and for the treatment of pain. Originally, the remedy was used as a horse medicine.

But just a few months ago, scientists from the Maryland University's School of Medicine reported in the journal "Nature" that this substance could also be an effective antidepressant.

The psychiatrist Malek Bajbouj from the Berlin Charité has already used Ketamin, which is also used as a party drug against depression and anxiety and made good experiences with it.

Drug for the treatment of depression
The use of ketamine in the treatment of depression will also be on the agenda at the European Congress of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP), which launches in Vienna next Friday.

There experts will report on the latest findings on topics such as "depression and anxiety", "dementia" or "ADHD in children, adolescents and parents".

The day before, for the first time the "Brain Day" for a lay audience in the Medical University of Vienna, the university reported in a statement.

Ketamine brightens the mood quickly
Siegfried Kasper, Head of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, explains that the narcotic drug known from surgery quickly gets people out of their depression and suppresses suicidal thoughts. "Ketamine works already after ten to 20 minutes and brightens the mood," said the expert.

The drug ketamine has been used for decades in anesthesia during surgical procedures. It showed that patients with ketamine anesthesia were significantly better the next day than with other anesthetics. As a result, the remedy is also used in psychiatry.

Of central importance for the sensory perception
According to its own statements, MedUni Vienna is currently promoting research into a ketamine-based nasal spray. The advantage: "With it we could protect the liver." As it says in the Uni-communication, Ketamin repairs a disturbed balance in the brain.

The mechanism of action of ketamine is therefore to compensate for a disturbance of the glutamate-GABA balance in the brain: Glutamate is especially important in the brain and important for movement control, sensory perception and memory.

GABA reduces the excitability of nerve cells and is therefore virtually the antagonist of glutamate. In people with depression or anxiety, this balance is disturbed, which can be repaired by ketamine. (Ad)