Abstract
Background: Mental health has become one of the thrust areas for research given the complexity of the human mind and paucity of treatment strategies to handle its dysfunction effectively. The mental disorders gain prominence due to the damage they can cause to the individual themselves, the people who are in contact with them and to the society at large. Depression is a mental disorder which is encountered frequently and needs immediate attention. Conventional antidepressants such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor and tricyclic antidepressants are used in the management of depression. These drugs have a poor safety profile, take time for therapeutic response and have issues with patient compliance as a concern. Hence, it is postulated that concurrent administration of ketamine with conventional antidepressants would relieve the effects of depression more rapidly, would lower the dose of the later and would be more efficacious.

Aims and Objectives: To study the antidepressant effect of coadministration of ketamine with conventional antidepressants in animal models of depression.

Materials and Methods: The study was a randomized controlled animal study done on 36 male albino BALB/c mice divided into six groups, namely, Group A distilled water i.p., Group B imipramine 10 mg/kg (i.p.), Group C ketamine 10 mg/kg, Group D escitalopram 5 mg/kg (i.p.), Group E imipramine 10 mg/kg (i.p.) and ketamine 10 mg/kg (i.p.), and Group F escitalopram 5 mg/kg (i.p.) and ketamine 10 mg/kg (i.p.), respectively. The animal model used was the forced swim test. The reduction in immobility time was taken as the guide for the antidepressant effect.

Results: The data were analyzed with the one-way ANOVA test using SPSS version 18. The results showed a significant reduction in immobility time and a statistical significance between the groups (P = 0.017). A post-hoc test showed that all the groups, i.e., B, C, D, E, and F significantly reduced the immobility time in comparison with the control Group A.

Conclusion: The above results support the fact that coadministration of ketamine can be a treatment modality for the management of depression with the advantage of quicker onset of action.

Key words: Ketamine; Forced Swim Test; Escitalopram; Antidepressant; Imipramine; Coadministration