In a new study from the University of Chicago, researchers found a single inhalation session with 25% nitrous oxide gas can rapidly relieve symptoms of treatment-resistant depression.
They also found that the effects last much longer than previously suspected, with some participants experiencing improvements for upwards of two weeks.
The findings bolster the evidence that non-traditional treatments may be a viable option for patients whose depression is not responsive to typical antidepressant medications.
Often called “laughing gas,” nitrous oxide is frequently used as an anesthetic that provides short-term pain relief in dentistry and surgery.
In a prior study, the team tested the effects of a one-hour inhalation session with 50% nitrous oxide gas in 20 patients.
They that it led to rapid improvements in patient’s depressive symptoms that lasted for at least 24 hours when compared to placebo. However, several patients experienced negative side effects, including nausea, vomiting, and headaches.
In the new study, they repeated a similar protocol with 20 patients, this time adding an additional inhalation session with 25% nitrous oxide.
They found that even with only half the concentration of nitrous oxide, the treatment was nearly as effective as 50% nitrous oxide, but this time with just one quarter of the negative side effects.
Furthermore, the team looked at patients’ clinical depression scores after treatment over a longer time course.
While the previous study only evaluated depression symptoms up to 24 hours after treatment, the new study conducted additional evaluations over two weeks.
To their surprise, after just a single administration, some patients’ improvements in their depression symptoms lasted for the entire evaluation period.
These results show promise for nitrous oxide as a rapid and effective treatment for those suffering from severe depression that fails to respond to other treatments, such as SSRIs, a common type of antidepressant medication.
While it remains challenging to get non-traditional treatments for depression accepted in the mainstream, researchers hope that these results, and other similar studies, will open the minds of reluctant physicians toward the unique properties of these drugs.
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The study is published in Science Translational Medicine. One author of the study is Peter Nagele.
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