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Low Safe Doses of Laughing Gas Relieve Depression

by Angela Mohan on Jun 10 2021 7:25 PM

Low Safe Doses of Laughing Gas Relieve Depression
One-hour treatment with nitrous oxide or laughing gas can reduce symptoms of treatment-resistant depression for several weeks, according to a phase 2 clinical trial done on 28 participants.
25% concentration of the gas can show therapeutic effects. Lower concentrations could be useful against depression in the clinic while bringing a lower risk of side effects.

Inhaled nitrous oxide is used as a sedative in dental and medical offices. A previous study showed that nitrous oxide had good antidepressant effect against treatment-resistant major depression.

Peter Nagele and colleagues investigated the safety and efficacy of a lower concentration of 25% nitrous oxide in 28 patients with treatment-resistant major depression.

Over 3 months patients received 3 one-hour inhalation sessions with a placebo, 25% nitrous oxide, and 50% nitrous oxide, in series, with each session separated by 4 weeks. After the 25% and 50% sessions, around 85% of the patients showed substantial improvements in their depression symptoms that lasted as long as four weeks.

Sessions with 25% nitrous oxide also had a four-fold lower risk of adverse effects such as sedation, nausea, and mild dissociation. More studies involving larger patient groups are needed, Nagele et al. note that the responders showed a mean drop in depression scores.



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