How ketamine relieves depression by suppressing the brain's "anti-reward" center

The anti-depressant qualities of ketamine, initially developed as an anesthetic before drifting into recreational circles due to its hallucinogenic properties, have been a booming topic of research over the past few years. Anecdotal evidence of the drug's effects have been so strong that "ketamine clinics" have popped up all over the US, delivering experimental treatments to patients for hundreds of dollars a dose. Researchers at Zhejiang University in China have now uncovered exciting new insights into a mechanism that may finally explain how ketamine has such a rapid anti-depressant effect.

Research from Columbia University Medical Center has recently clinically verified the drug's ability to rapidly reduce major depressive symptoms in a matter of hours, but the actual mechanism underlying these effects has been unclear. It's been known for some time that ketamine blocks a protein receptor in the brain called N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA), and it is this process that some have suspected is the cause of the drug's fast-acting anti-depressant qualities. But until now it hasn't been clear where in the brain this process is occurring.

More