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A low dose of ketamine, the veterinary anesthetic known on the street as "special K" may be the secret to turning a frown upside down. While this finding is only preliminary and the researchers emphasize the drug is not ready to be used in a clinical context, the results are remarkable: Of 18 depressed adults who received a ketamine injection, nearly three quarters had 50% or greater improvement one day after the injection, 29% met the criteria for remission and 35% still felt the happy effects one week later. While doctors are not sure exactly how ketamine combats depression, they do note that it blocks NMDA receptors. When this receptor is blocked in animals, researchers have observed a reduction in depression-like behaviors. No serious side effects were observed in the participants. While no other anti-depressents work this quickly or have such long-lasting effects with a single dose, doctors say that much more research needs to be done before ketamine could possibly be put to legal, clinical use in treating depression.