Brain HealthGlutamate Disruption May Help Explain Depression Beyond Serotonin
Depression involves more than changes in serotonin and similar brain chemicals. This narrative review examines how disrupted glutamate signaling, which helps brain cells communicate, could connect problems in mood, motivation, memory, and stress responses. The authors describe abnormalities in signal receptors and supporting cells that normally remove excess glutamate. They also explore how inflammation, gut microbes, and changes in connections between brain regions may contribute. Treatment directions include ketamine, other drugs targeting glutamate signaling, approaches aimed at supporting brain cells, and brain stimulation. The review proposes matching treatments to patients using biological measurements, but the abstract provides no numerical estimates of treatment benefits or systematic assessment of evidence quality. This summary is based on the abstract only and does not establish that these approaches improve aging or lifespan.
