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Party Drug Ketamine (Special K) Likely To Become Anti-Depression Medicine

  • (January 09, 2015)

The drug Ketamine, known in the party scene as "Special K," could have a future in depression treatment. Pharmaceutical companies are racing to create a patentable version of the drug and researchers are trying to learn more about the effects it has on the brain. Ketamine works by blocking the signalling molecule NMDA, which is a component of the glutamate pathway. This pathway is involved with memory and cognition, psychiatrist James Murrough at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, explained to Nature magazine.

- Dr. James Murrough, Assistant Professor, Psychiatry, Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

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