> You can likely get an antidepressant effect out of Esketamine in the same way that you can get an antidepressant effect out of psychdelics like LSD-25 & Psilocin.
LSD and magic mushrooms modulate serotonin, so the antidepressant effects that those drugs might have is easily explained. What isn't/wasn't so easily explained is why Ketamine specifically has long-lasting antidepressant qualities when it isn't serotogenic. The article mentions effects Ketamine has on the lateral habenula, which if targeted in the same was that Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) do could lead to a class of antidepressants which are completely orthogonal to our current approach. This would be extremely valuable because depression is a fatal disease and frequently poorly treated.
LSD and magic mushrooms modulate serotonin, so the antidepressant effects that those drugs might have is easily explained. What isn't/wasn't so easily explained is why Ketamine specifically has long-lasting antidepressant qualities when it isn't serotogenic. The article mentions effects Ketamine has on the lateral habenula, which if targeted in the same was that Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) do could lead to a class of antidepressants which are completely orthogonal to our current approach. This would be extremely valuable because depression is a fatal disease and frequently poorly treated.