How Ketamine can help decrease inflammation

MSW Ketamine Research Corner: 

Inflammation’s Role in Depression & Ketamine’s Anti-Inflammatory Effects

Adam Mitchell, MA- Director of Clinical Research

MY Self Wellness: www.MySelfWellness.Center

As writer of the research-backed claims below, I am also honored to work alongside the caring staff at MY Self Wellness, in Bonita Springs, Florida, to bring the revolutionary treatments of Psychedelic Ketamine Therapy to the public.  Disclosing more than my professional affiliation with MY Self Wellness, I also claim distinct honor and pride to work with my compassionate colleagues as we bring transformative healing to so many who embrace the miraculous potential Ketamine Therapy offers.  

This edition of the MSW Ketamine Research Corner covers the hidden role inflammation has in a variety of beleaguering ailments such as depression & chronic pain, and how Ketamine Therapy addresses underlying causes as well as alleviates more apparent suffering we know names for.

Ketamine is getting more and more support as a ‘breakthrough’ therapeutic for treatment-resistant depression and chronic pain.  Nearly everyone in chronic pain also feels symptoms of depression.  Nearly all people with depression will report a greater sense of pain.  Both, pain and depression are often discomforting bedfellows of poor sleep.  Excessive inflammation- natural immune mechanisms in overdrive- serve as the unseen foundation supporting the interwoven symptoms of depression, disordered sleeping, and chronic pain. Ketamine therapy can help interrupt patterns of irregular stress and inflammation hormone production, helping the body ‘reset’ to normative levels of these important immune molecules, which can cause their own form of terrors when continuously elevated.

Depression, pain, and sleep interrelate with inflammation in such ways that researchers now explore the ‘inflammation hypothesis of depression (1, 2).’  The evidence to support the claim that high levels of inflammatory markers actually cause dysfunction in mood, pain and sleep rather than simply rise once these threshold for these conditions have been established is mounting, so much that future depression diagnoses can be predicted from elevated levels of inflammatory markers (3, 4).  There are active investigations as to how controlling excessive inflammation may not only treat, but prevent the development of many treatment-resistant conditions linked to inflammation.  Ketamine’s role in lowering the body’s production of inflammatory molecules remains a safe and compelling treatment to help regulate these very same (5, 6, 7, 8, 9).

Despite a number of other promising anti-inflammatory therapies now under investigation for the treatment of depression (10, 11, 12, 13), and anti-inflammatory activity being a hallmark of conventional depression prescriptions of SSRI’s & SNRI’s (14, 15), long-term treatment with these drugs come with organ impact and side effect profiles (16, 17, 18) which more time-limited treatments avoid.  Ketamine’s substantial effects, not only treating symptoms of pain & depression, but downregulating hormones related to stress and inflammation after 6-12 brief, time-limited repeat sessions is an accessible way to address these chronic conditions to unprecedented effect (19).  Just like new treatments which lower inflammation by raising dopamine (13), ketamine raises dopamine in the brain, initiates the growth of new dopamine receptors and brain growth factors, and lowers inflammation (20, 21) in ways the treatment-resistant among us can benefit from (22, 23).

To learn more about the therapeutic applications for ketamine therapy, to coordinate a free tour of our facility here in Bonita Springs, Florida, or to schedule an evaluation for Ketamine Therapy, feel free to reach out to our trained and caring team at MY Self Wellness.  Call us at 239-908-9958 or send us an email at info@MYselfwellness.center.

Cited Sources

1. Roohi, E., Jaafari, N. & Hashemian, F. On inflammatory hypothesis of depression: what is the role of IL-6 in the middle of the chaos?. J Neuroinflammation 18, 45 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12974-021-02100-7
2. Ting, E. Y.-C., Yang, A. C., & Tsai, S.-J. (2020). Role of Interleukin-6 in Depressive Disorder. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21(6), 2194. MDPI AG. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms21062194
3. Yang, J. J., Wang, N., Yang, C., Shi, J. Y., Yu, H. Y., & Hashimoto, K. (2015). Serum interleukin-6 is a predictive biomarker for ketamine’s antidepressant effect in treatment-resistant patients with major depression. Biological psychiatry, 77(3), e19-e20.
4. Gimeno, D., Kivimäki, M., Brunner, E., Elovainio, M., De Vogli, R., Steptoe, A., . . . Ferrie, J. (2009). Associations of C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 with cognitive symptoms of depression: 12-year follow-up of the Whitehall II study. Psychological Medicine, 39(3), 413-423. doi:10.1017/S0033291708003723
5. Zhan, Y., Zhou, Y., Zheng, W., Liu, W., Wang, C., Lan, X., … & Ning, Y. (2020). Alterations of multiple peripheral inflammatory cytokine levels after repeated ketamine infusions in major depressive disorder. Translational Psychiatry, 10(1), 1-9. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-020-00933-z
6. Yang, Y., Song, Y., Zhang, X., Zhao, W., Ma, T., Liu, Y., … & Zhang, H. (2020). Ketamine relieves depression-like behaviors induced by chronic postsurgical pain in rats through anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant effects and regulating BDNF expression. Psychopharmacology, 237(6), 1657-1669. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00213-020-05490-3
7. Nowak, W., Grendas, L. N., Sanmarco, L. M., Estecho, I. G., Arena, Á. R., Eberhardt, N., … & Errasti, A. E. (2019). Pro-inflammatory monocyte profile in patients with major depressive disorder and suicide behaviour and how ketamine induces anti-inflammatory M2 macrophages by NMDAR and mTOR. EBioMedicine, 50, 290-305. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352396419307406
8. Chen, T. L., Chang, C. C., Lin, Y. L., Ueng, Y. F., & Chen, R. M. (2009). Signal-transducing mechanisms of ketamine-caused inhibition of interleukin-1β gene expression in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated murine macrophage-like Raw 264.7 cells. Toxicology and applied pharmacology, 240(1), 15-25. https://www.osti.gov/etdeweb/biblio/21272661
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13. https://news.emory.edu/stories/2023/01/som_bhc_inflammation_felger/story.html
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15. Tynan, R. J., Weidenhofer, J., Hinwood, M., Cairns, M. J., Day, T. A., & Walker, F. R. (2012). A comparative examination of the anti-inflammatory effects of SSRI and SNRI antidepressants on LPS stimulated microglia. Brain, behavior, and immunity, 26(3), 469-479.
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