Translational Psychiatry
September 24, 2026
Elisa Briem, Peter Stöhrmann, Gregor Dörl et al.
Abstract Ketamine induces a sequence of temporally distinct effects on brain function, yet its impact on reward processing beyond the acute post-administration phase remains unclear. In this single-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study, 28 healthy participants received 0.5 mg/kg racemic ketamine or placebo via a 40 min intravenous infusion. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was...
Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology
2026
Manfred Klöbl, Thomas Liebe, Gregor Dörl et al.
Ketamine, a well-established antidepressant and dissociative anesthetic, is also used recreationally in the club and chemsex scene. Survey and qualitative data suggest that while ketamine facilitates chemsex encounters, it diminishes the intensity of the sexual experience. To investigate this phenomenon from a neuroscientific perspective while considering ketamine's sex-specific effects. Two...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
June 6, 2025
Benjamin Spurny-Dworak, Thomas Liebe, Samantha Graf et al.
2 citations
The N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist ketamine has found broad application in the field of psychiatry. Due to its rapid antidepressant and anti-suicidal properties, it is used as a treatment for major depressive disorder. Furthermore, ketamine evokes dissociative and psychotropic states, which allows the modeling of schizophrenic symptoms. The thalamus, a main target for ketamine's...
The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry
November 1, 2024
Samantha Graf, Gregor Dörl, Christian Milz et al.
2 citations
Ketamine exerts rapid antidepressant effects by enhancing neuroplasticity, particularly in the amygdala and hippocampus-regions involved in fear processing and learning. While the role of ketamine's dissociative effects in its antidepressant response is debated, anxiety experienced during infusion has been negatively correlated with treatment outcomes. In this single-blind, placebo-controlled...