Meet the NMDA Receptor

& Learn About Its Relationship to Depression, Addiction, OCD, Alzheimers, Undermethylation, Overmethylation, Ketamine, NAC & D-Serine

Psychiatry is at an important time in its history. With a growing understanding of the NMDA receptor, more effective psychiatric medications are being developed. This understanding has also refined the Walsh nutrient protocols that I (and other Walsh-trained doctors) use to target nutrient imbalances involved in brain symptoms.

Since the 1950s, the development of antidepressants has been around “monoamine transporter antagonists” - medications that block certain receptors that keep more neurotransmitters in the space between nerve cells (the synapse). Tricyclic antidepressants, SSRIs, and SNRIs all fall into this group.

However, newer antidepressant treatments, such as Esketamine, Ketamine, and others, are showing benefit by blocking the NMDA receptor. The supplement NAC or N-acetyl-cysteine also decreases activity at the NMDA receptor.