Published online Jun 19, 2021. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v11.i6.201
Peer-review started: February 15, 2021
First decision: March 30, 2021
Revised: April 7, 2021
Accepted: May 20, 2021
Article in press: May 20, 2021
Published online: June 19, 2021
Processing time: 116 Days and 1.2 Hours
Depression is a common mental disorder and one of the leading causes of disability around the world. Monoaminergic antidepressants often take weeks to months to work and are not effective for all patients. This has led to a search for a better understanding of the pathogenesis of depression as well as to the development of novel antidepressants. One such novel antidepressant is ketamine, which has demonstrated both clinically promising results and contributed to new explanatory models of depression, including the potential role of neuroplasticity in depression. Early clinical trials are now showing promising results of serotonergic psychedelics for depression; however, their mechanism of action remains poorly understood. This paper seeks to review the effect of depression, classic antidepressants, ketamine, and serotonergic psychedelics on markers of neuroplasticity at a cellular, molecular, electrophysiological, functional, structural, and psychological level to explore the potential role that neuroplasticity plays in the treatment response of serotonergic psychedelics.
Core Tip: Depression is a common mental disorder and one of the leading causes of disability around the world. Monoaminergic antidepressants often take weeks to months to work and are not effective for all patients. This review specifically compares the effects of serotonergic psychedelics with other antidepressants on plasticity at multiple levels of nervous system functioning.