Recent Research Progress of the Mechanism of Adult-born Immature Granule Neurons Underlying Rapid Antidepressant Effect of Ketamine

Abstract

Major depressive disorder is a serious disease that impacts human health worldwide. Traditional antidepressant medications are limited by the delayed onset of therapeutic effects and the unacceptable side effects. Recently, the rapid antidepressant effect of ketamine, which decreases depressive symptoms within hours, has been a very attractive finding in the field, but the underlying mechanisms mediating this rapid response remain unclear. Besides, the clinical application of ketamine still carries risks, such as addiction and deleterious side effects. In May 2022, Rawat et al. reported that the acute activation of adult-born immature granule neurons (ABINs) in the dentate gyrus played a key role in the rapid antidepressant effects of ketamine. This commentary reviews the important findings of this research and looks forward to the future work.

Keywords

• major depressive disorder
• ketamine
• rapid antidepressant effect
• dentate gyrus
• adult-born immature granule neurons