A recent study found that a popular club drug could help fight long-standing depression and suicidal tendencies.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first approved ketamine in 1970 as a potent anesthetic. Outside surgery rooms, ketamine is capable of triggering out-of-body experiences and hallucinations, which earned it the moniker "club drug."
In another study published in the Nature journal, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) researcher Carlos Zarate led a team in analyzing how ketamine works in the brain and how it can affect depression.
The research team used animals to study the popular club drug and its byproducts. They found that it blocks the a pathway in the brain that affects mood called NMDA. Ketamine carries two side effects: dissociative thinking and dependence.
Now, here's the good part. They discovered that ketamine leaves a vital metabolite byproduct that survives in the body long after the drug is broken down.
This metabolite is capable of triggering the drug's antidepressant effects. The best part is that the byproduct doesn't have the same previously mentioned side effects.
These findings can open up a new line of research wherein drug manufacturers can tap into the powers of the metabolite.
Given the right dosage, ketamine could hold the key to fighting depression and suicidal attempts and offer an alternative treatment to clinically depressed individuals.
Since metabolite acts fast, it could be an early remedy for people who have early stage depression. Theoretically, it has the potential to save people from developing long-term depression.
In the United States, major depression is one of the most common mental illness, wherein annually, more than 41,000 people die of suicide.
According to the NIMH, there were about 15.7 million American adults aged 18 years old and above who had at least one major depressive event the previous year. This covered roughly 6.7 percent of all adults in the country.
"Suicide is the only top 10 cause of death that is increasing, not decreasing. Most of that is due to untreated, under-treated or treatment-resistant depression," said Dr. Charles Nemeroff, University of Miami's chairman of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.
