Ketamine abuse potential and use disorder.
Ketamine is a noncompetitive antagonist of N-methyl-d-asparate (NMDA) receptor and has been long used as an anesthetic agent in humans and veterinary medicine. The present article reviews the epidemiology, pharmacology, neurochemistry, and treatment of ketamine abuse. Ketamine has a unique mood controlling property and a number of studies have demonstrated a significant and rapid antidepressant effect of ketamine. However, the therapeutic value of ketamine to treat psychiatric disorders faces a major challenge that ketamine also owns significant reinforcing and toxic effects. Its abuse has posted severe harms on individuals and society. Disrupted learning and memory processing has long been related with ketamine use. It is hypothesized that ketamine blocks NMDA receptors on gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurons inside the thalamic reticular nucleus, which leads to disinhibition of dopaminergic neurons and increased release of dopamine. Currently, there is no specific treatment for treating every ketamine patient presenting peripheral toxicity. Interestingly, ketamine psychotherapy has been suggested to be a promising approach to treat addiction of other drugs. Future research can continue to develop creative ways to investigate potential mechanism and treatments related to ketamine abuse that have posted severe individual and social harms.
Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, PR China.
Yu
Y
Liu
Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, PR China.
Deyong
D
Lin
Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, PR China.
Boliang
B
Wu
Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, PR China; Ningbo Addiction Research and Treatment Center, Ningbo 315010, PR China. Electronic address: whzhou@vip.163.com.
Wenhua
W
Zhou
D000818:Animals; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001923:Brain Chemistry / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D007649:Ketamine / Q000009:adverse effects*; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012919:Social Behavior; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy
D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D007649:Ketamine
Anti-depressant; Ketamine abuse; Neurobiology; Pharmacology; Toxic effect