The findings, published online this month in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, could set the stage for development of novel treatments for mood and anxiety disorders that are induced by withdrawal from alcohol.
Depression is highly associated with alcohol abuse disorders. Yet before these findings can be applied to humans, "much work remains to be done," said senior author Danny Winder, Ph.D., professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics and of Psychiatry.
Clinical studies in which both conditions have been treated at the same time are "woefully lacking," he and his colleagues wrote. In addition, commonly used antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) are not very effective in this population.
The Vanderbilt researchers validated a previously established mouse model in which the animals exhibit depression-like behavior following withdrawal of alcohol.
They then tested ketamine, an anesthetic drug that blocks the NMDA receptor in the brain and which has been shown to have rapid and long-lasting antidepressant effects in humans. When the mice were given ketamine, the depressive symptoms were reversed.