Ketamine's antidepressant action: beyond NMDA receptor inhibition

Abstract

The N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist ketamine is one of the most attractive antidepressants since this drug causes rapid-onset and sustained antidepressant effects in treatment resistant patients with depression. There are unanswered questions about how ketamine induces its rapid and sustained antidepressant actions. This key article suggests that (2R,6R)-HNK (hydroxynorketamine), a major metabolite of (R)-ketamine, shows antidepressant effects in rodent models of depression, indicating that the metabolism of (R)-ketamine to (2R,6R)-HNK is pivotal in its antidepressant action. Here these findings are put into context and their significance is discussed.

Keywords: (R)-ketamine; Antidepressant; esketamine; hydroxynorketamine; ketamine.