Party people may be familiar with a nightclub drug called Special K. This drug is actually a horse tranquilizer also known as Ketamine. Researchers have published their findings in the Archives of General Psychiatry and claim that Special K could actually help treat people who suffer from depression.
How does the drug work? Reuters reports:
Ketamine restores to normal the orbifrontal cortex, an area of the brain located above the eyes that is overactive in depressed people.
The area is believed to be responsible for feelings of guilt, dread, apprehension and physical reactions such as a racing heart, said Bill Deakin, who led the study.
“The study results have given us a completely novel way of treating depression and a new avenue of understanding depression,” said Deakin, a neuroscientist at the University of Manchester.
I would say that this is heartening news, especially to those who know what depression is all about firsthand. Depression, when not treated properly, can have a debilitating effect – not only on the person who suffers from it but people who are close to the depressed as well. Here is even better news:
Previous research had shown that ketamine improved symptoms in depressed people after just 24 hours — far faster than the month it can take for Prozac to kick in — but until now they did not know exactly how.
The latest findings give researchers a specific target to design new drugs and offer hope for the many people who do not respond to Prozac or other standard medicines, Deakin added.
Let’s hope that this study’s findings can be put into practical use soon.
译文:
抑郁症在夜总会药物中遭遇克星
派对达人们可能对这种叫做“特别K”的夜总会药物很熟悉。事实上，这药是一种马安定剂，也就是众所周知的开他敏。研究者已经在《普通精神病学记录》中发表了他们的研究成果，他们发现这种“特别K”确实有助于治疗抑郁症患者。
那么，这种药是如何起作用的呢？路透社报道：
抑郁症患者的前额脑区底部活动都异常活跃，它位于眼眶上方，是大脑中的一个区域，而开他敏恰恰可以使这个区域恢复正常。
比尔迪肯领导了这次研究，他说：“我们认为，人们的罪恶感，恐惧感，忧虑感，以及诸如心率加速之类的生理反应，都是由前额脑区底部的活动引起的。”
曼彻斯特大学的神经学家迪肯说：“研究结果给我们提供了一种新的方法去治疗抑郁症，也给我们带来了一种新的途径去了解抑郁症。”
我想说，这的确是一条非常令人振奋的消息，尤其是对于那些知道抑郁症需要及时直接治疗的人来说。如果患上了抑郁症，又没有进行正确的治疗，那么不论是对患者本身还是对于其周围的人，都会产生不利的影响，使其日渐衰弱。这里有一则更好的消息：
之前的研究已经表明在服用开他敏24小时后就能有效改善患者的症状，这药效远比以月为疗程的百忧解的药效来的快，但至今研究者们仍不知其原因何在。
迪肯补充道，“这项最新的研究成果使研究者们有了一个明确的目标来开发新药品，也给许多服用百忧解或其他药物却不见效的患者带来了希望。”
我们希望这项研究成果能早日应用到实际生活中。