We are pleased to announce that Dr. Panos Zanos, Director of the Zanos Lab at the University of Cyprus, recently delivered a lecture as part of the prestigious Neuroscience Lecture Series (NLS) at the University of Bern, Switzerland, for the 2024/25 academic year.

Dr. Zanos presented the lab’s cutting-edge research on ketamine’s antidepressant properties, challenging the conventional understanding of its mechanism of action. While ketamine has revolutionized depression treatment with its ability to alleviate symptoms within hours (compared to weeks for traditional antidepressants), its clinical applications have been limited by side effects.

The presentation highlighted how Dr. Zanos’ research has revealed that NMDA receptor inhibition alone cannot fully explain ketamine’s sustained antidepressant effects. Instead, their work demonstrates the critical role of the (2R,6R)-hydroxynorketamine (HNK) metabolite, which exhibits antidepressant effects without ketamine’s side effects. Dr. Zanos discussed their discoveries regarding the paradoxical inverted U-shaped dose-response relationship and the importance of AMPA receptor activation in ketamine’s antidepressant actions.

This research establishes NMDAR activation as a common downstream effector for rapid-acting antidepressants and offers promising directions for developing next-generation antidepressants with improved efficacy and reduced side effects.

The NLS is a collaborative initiative between the Institute of Physiology and the Center for Experimental Neurology (ZEN), designed to foster high-quality scientific interactions with distinguished researchers. The invitation from Prof. Dr. Antoine Adamantidis, Prof. Dr. Stéphane Ciocchi, and PD. Dr. Carolina Gutierrez Herrera underscores the international recognition of our lab’s contributions to neuropharmacology and depression research.