Effect of Acute Ketamine Treatment on Sympathetic Regulation Indexed by Electrodermal Activity in Adolescent Major Depression.
Veronika Kovacova, Andrea Macejova, Ingrid Tonhajzerova, Zuzana Visnovcova, Nikola Ferencova, Zuzana Mlyncekova, Tomas Kukucka, Ivan Farsky, Slavomir Nosal, Igor Ondrejka
Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) March 10, 2024 DOI: 10.3390/ph17030358 via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractA single intravenous infusion of ketamine reduced depressive symptoms in hospitalized adolescent girls with major depressive disorder, as measured by the MADRS and CDI scales, without significantly altering electrodermal activity (EDA) parameters such as skin conductance level or nonspecific electrodermal responses. The study involved 20 girls with an average age of 15.0 years. Before treatment, lower skin conductance level correlated with higher scores on certain CDI subscales, and fewer nonspecific electrodermal responses correlated with higher scores on one MADRS item. The findings suggest ketamine may be a safe and effective acute antidepressant for adolescents, as it improved mood without disrupting sympathetic regulation.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Pre-post intervention study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 20 |
| Population | Hospitalized adolescent girls with major depressive disorder |
| Intervention | Ketamine |
| Duration | Single infusion, assessed before and two hours after administration |
| Topics | Depression Ketamine |
| Keywords | Adolescence Depressive symptomatology Electrodermal activity Severe episode |
| Citations | 4 |
| Key finding | Ketamine infusion significantly reduced depressive symptoms in adolescents with major depressive disorder without significantly affecting electrodermal activity. |
Abstract
Ketamine is a potential rapid-onset antidepressant characterized by sympathomimetic effects. However, the question of ketamine's use in treating adolescents' major depressive disorder (MDD) is still discussed. Thus, we aimed to study the acute effect of ketamine infusion treatment on sympathetic regulation using electrodermal activity (EDA) in addition to an assessment of depressive symptomatology in MDD adolescents. Twenty hospitalized adolescent girls with MDD (average age: 15.0 ± 1.46 yrs.) were examined before and two hours after a single intravenous infusion of ketamine. EDA was continuously recorded for 6 min, and depressive symptoms were assessed before and two hours after ketamine administration. The evaluated parameters included skin conductance level (SCL), nonspecific electrodermal responses (NS-SCRs), MADRS (questions no. 1-10, total score), and CDI (items A-E, total score). EDA parameters showed no significant changes after the ketamine treatment, and depressive symptoms were significantly reduced after the ketamine infusion. The analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between index SCL and CDI-A, CDI-E, and the total CDI score and between index NS-SCRs and MADRS no. 4 before the ketamine treatment. In conclusion, ketamine improved depressive symptomatology without a significant effect on EDA, indicating its potential safety and efficiency as an acute antidepressant intervention in adolescent MDD.