{"id":72304,"date":"2020-12-16T11:04:49","date_gmt":"2020-12-16T16:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?p=72304"},"modified":"2025-08-19T09:36:27","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T13:36:27","slug":"carleton-professor-publishes-paper-on-ketamine-as-a-treatment-for-major-depression-in-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/2020\/carleton-professor-publishes-paper-on-ketamine-as-a-treatment-for-major-depression-in-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"Carleton Professor Publishes Paper on Ketamine as a Treatment for Major Depression in Nature"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Carleton Professor Publishes Paper on Ketamine as a Treatment for Major Depression in Nature\n <\/h1>\n \n \n <\/header>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Carleton University\u2019s Argel Aguilar-Valles<\/a> and Nahum Sonenberg from McGill University\u2019s Department of Biochemistry and Goodman Cancer Centre have published new research in Nature<\/em>. The paper, Antidepressant Ketamine Actions Engage Cell-Specific Translation Via elF4E<\/a><\/em>, discovered a mechanism mediating the neuronal and behavioral responses to ketamine when used as a treatment for major depression disorder (MDD).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Effective drug therapy for MDD is a challenge, as more than 30 per cent of patients are resistant to the first line of treatment, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). However, recent research shows that ketamine provides rapid and long-lasting antidepressant effects in treatment-resistant patients. Yet, this treatment also has numerous, potentially dangerous side effect and can lead to addiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur discovery advances the understanding of how ketamine works in the brain,\u201d said Aguilar-Valles, professor in the Department of Neuroscience<\/a>. \u201cWe want to understand these powerful antidepressants and find similar results without having the side effects of ketamine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aguilar-Valles started this research six years ago when he was a postdoctoral fellow in Sonenberg Lab at McGill University. He transferred to Carleton on Jan. 2019 and finalized this research for publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith SSRIs, it takes two to three months for the patient to have stable effects,\u201d said Aguilar-Valles. \u201cWith ketamine, however, within hours a single dose has an effect that can last a week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research used mice as models to demonstrate that ketamine\u2019s effects on neuronal activity and behavioural effects involve a group of proteins referred to as 4E-BPs. These proteins are central in controlling the production of other proteins in the brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers will now try to determine whether this important mechanism is involved in situations of chronic stress, which is a risk factor for MDD. In addition, it is important to determine whether biological sex differences affect the involvement of these proteins for the mechanism of action of ketamine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Media Contact<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Steven Reid
\nMedia Relations Officer
\nCarleton University
\n613-265-6613
\nSteven.Reid3@carleton.ca<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\nCOVID 19 Updates: https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/coronavirus-covid-19\/messages\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carleton University\u2019s Argel Aguilar-Valles and Nahum Sonenberg from McGill University\u2019s Department of Biochemistry and Goodman Cancer Centre have published new research in Nature. The paper, Antidepressant Ketamine Actions Engage Cell-Specific Translation Via elF4E, discovered a mechanism mediating the neuronal and behavioral responses to ketamine when used as a treatment for major depression disorder (MDD). Effective […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":60331,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1640,91],"class_list":["post-72304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-releases","tag-department-of-neuroscience","tag-research"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72304"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72314,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72304\/revisions\/72314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}