ACS Omega
March 10, 2026
Dinesh Durán Jiménez, F. Vinckenbosch, J. Busink et al.
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is commonly used as a recreational drug, and the Dutch police have reported numerous traffic incidents related to its misuse. At the same time, the in vivo pharmacokinetics of N2O remain underexplored. In light of these facts, this study aimed to detect and quantify N2O in blood and saliva after inhalation exposure of a recreational dose. Consequently, a pilot in vivo study...
British Journal of Anaesthesia
February 1, 2025
Simone C Jansen, Monique van Velzen, Elise Sarton et al.
11 citations
The acute hypoxic ventilatory response is a critical chemoreflex originating at the carotid bodies. This study investigates the impact of low-dose i.v. esketamine on the ventilatory response to 20 min of isocapnic hypoxia to test the hypothesis that esketamine does not affect hypoxic ventilation. In this open-label study, 18 healthy subjects received a 3-h escalating i.v. infusion of...
npj Mental Health Research
October 6, 2024
Jack D. C. Dahan, David Dadiomov, Tijmen Bostoen et al.
13 citations
There is some evidence that the subjective effects of ketamine and other psychedelics like psilocybin are crucial for their therapeutic outcomes, such as treatment of depression or substance use disorder (SUD). We performed a meta-analysis and systematic review on the correlation of subjective symptoms and dissociation versus ketamine-induced therapeutic outcomes in patients with depression or...
ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science
July 12, 2024
Albert Dahan, Simone C Jansen, Rutger van der Schrier et al.
8 citations
The anesthetic, analgesic and antidepressant drug ketamine produces dissociation with symptoms of psychosis and anxiety, an effect attributed to neuronal nitric oxide depletion following N-methyl-d-aspartate blockade. There is evidence that dissociation induced by racemic ketamine, containing both ketamine enantiomers (S- and R-ketamine) but not esketamine (the S-isomer) is inhibited by nitric...
WIREs Forensic Science
November 7, 2023
F. Vinckenbosch, Dinesh Durán Jiménez, H. Helmerhorst et al.
Nitrous oxide (N2O), colloquially known as laughing gas, is a common recreational drug of abuse. The gas is inhaled in its undiluted form from a party balloon. Its intoxicating effects are described as dissociative and euphoric, accompanied by ataxia, hypoxia, and attenuated consciousness. Therefore, the recreational use of N2O appears irreconcilable with operating a vehicle in road traffic....
Anesthesiology
September 12, 2022
Albert Dahan, Erik Olofsen, Thomas K. Henthorn et al.
3 citations
We thank Bowdle et al.1 for their interest in our article,2 and for the important issue they raise, paraphrased as follows: what is the best anthropocentric description of the "mind-altering" effects of a heterogeneous group of compounds and drugs that act at the brain and cause significant changes in mental state. The group of drugs that we are referring to includes N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA)...
Anesthesiology
February 21, 2022
Erik Olofsen, Jasper Kamp, Thomas K. Henthorn et al.
33 citations
BACKGROUND: Ketamine produces potent analgesia combined with psychedelic effects. It has been suggested that these two effects are associated and possibly that analgesia is generated by ketamine-induced dissociation. The authors performed a post hoc analysis of previously published data to quantify the pharmacodynamic properties of ketamine-induced antinociception and psychedelic symptoms. The...
British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology
February 21, 2013
Marieke Niesters, Christian H. Martini, Albert Dahan
498 citations
The anaesthetic ketamine is used to treat various chronic pain syndromes, especially those that have a neuropathic component. Low dose ketamine produces strong analgesia in neuropathic pain states, presumably by inhibition of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor although other mechanisms are possibly involved, including enhancement of descending inhibition and anti-inflammatory effects at central...
Anesthesiology
August 13, 2012
Marieke Niesters, Najmeh Khalili‐mahani, Christian H. Martini et al.
141 citations
Background The influence of psychoactive drugs on the central nervous system has been investigated with positron emission tomography and task-related functional magnetic resonance imaging. However, it is not known how these drugs affect the intrinsic large-scale interactions of the brain (resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging connectivity). In this study, the effect of low-dose...