Abstract:
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is the most common
psychiatric disease and it affects millions of people across
the world. Patients suffering from MDD consistently com-
plain about cognitive disturbances, significantly worsening
the burden of this illness. The second most frequent mental
illness in Europe is mood disorders and they are domina-
ted by MDD, a-ecting 7% of the population. The recent di-
scovery that the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR)
antagonist; ketamine; a revolutionary novel antidepressant,
rapidly relieves depressive symptoms and suicidal imagi-
nations, particularly amongst those with treatment-resistant
depression have generated a new wave of excitement. This
article discusses the sex differences that exist in depressi-
ve patients, summarizes the antidepressant activity of ke-
tamine and reviews the mechanisms underlying the rapid
antidepressant effects of ketamine. It further discusses the
sexual differences in the antidepressant activity of ketamine
in preclinical studies.
