Effects of Subanesthetic Ketamine Administration on Visual and Auditory Event-Related Potentials (ERP) in Humans: A Systematic Review
André Schwertner, Maxciel Zortéa, Felipe Vasconcelos Torres, Wolnei Caumo
Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience April 16, 2018 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00070 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Systematic review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Healthy subjects |
| Intervention | Ketamine |
| Dose | subanesthetic doses |
| Topics | Ketamine Esketamine |
| Keywords | Nmda receptor Sensory system Dissociative Event-related potential Nociception Cognition Audiology |
| Citations | 48 |
| Key findings | Ketamine reduces certain ERP components (N2, P2, P3 amplitudes, PN, and MMN) while others remain stable or increase (P50 reduction, PPI, P1, and N1 amplitudes), indicating altered cortical processing of sensory input. |
Abstract
Ketamine is a non-competitive N-Methyl-D-Aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist whose effect in subanesthetic doses has been studied for chronic pain and mood disorders treatment. It has been proposed that ketamine could change the perception of nociceptive stimuli by modulating the cortical connectivity and altering the top-down mechanisms that control conscious pain perception. As this is a strictly central effect, it would be relevant to provide fresh insight into ketamine's effect on cortical response to external stimuli. Event-related potentials (ERPs) reflect the combined synchronic activity of postsynaptic potentials of many cortical pyramidal neurons similarly oriented, being a well-established technique to study cortical responses to sensory input. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the current evidence of subanesthetic ketamine doses on patterns of cortical activity based on ERPs in healthy subjects. To answer the question whether ERPs could be potential markers of the cortical effects of ketamine, we conducted a systematic review of ketamine's effect on ERPs after single and repeated doses. We have searched PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane Databases and pre-selected 141 articles, 18 of which met the inclusion criteria. Our findings suggest that after ketamine administration some ERP parameters are reduced (reduced N2, P2, and P3 amplitudes, PN and MMN) while others remain stable or are even increased (P50 reduction, PPI, P1, and N1 amplitudes). The current understanding of these effects is that ketamine alters the perceived contrast between distinct visual and auditory stimuli. The analgesic effect of ketamine might also be influenced by a decreased affective discrimination of sensorial information, a finding from studies using ketamine as a model for schizophrenia, but that can give an important hint not only for the treatment of mood disorders, but also to treat pain and ketamine abuse.
Comparable studies
Other systematic reviews and meta-analyses on ketamine, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The effect of a single dose of intravenous ketamine on suicidal ideation: a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis Depressed patients with suicidal ideation at baseline | 2017 | Systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis | n = 167 |
| Ketamine use: a review Ketamine users | 2011 | Systematic review | |
| Ketamine and Other NMDA Antagonists: Early Clinical Trials and Possible Mechanisms in Depression Participants with major depression in placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized... | 2015 | Systematic review and meta-analysis | |
| Ketamine and postoperative pain – a quantitative systematic review of randomised trials Surgical patients from 25 countries | 2004 | Systematic review | n = 2,839 |
| Side-effects associated with ketamine use in depression: a systematic review. Patients with depression | 2018 | Systematic review |
Citations in the library
Cited by 14
- Ketamine and serotonergic psychedelics: An update on the mechanisms and biosignatures underlying rapid-acting antidepressant treatment Neuropharmacology January 13, 2023
- High-order brain interactions in ketamine during rest and task: a double-blinded cross-over design using portable EEG on male participants. Translational Psychiatry July 27, 2024
- Adjunctive music improves the tolerability of intravenous ketamine for bipolar depression International Clinical Psychopharmacology April 23, 2021
- Cortical Mechanisms Contributing to Ketamine-Induced Dissociation The Neuroscientist December 26, 2025
- Glutamatergic mechanisms in early salience processing. Frontiers in Pharmacology 2025
and 9 more in the library
Cites 17
- Subanesthetic Effects of the Noncompetitive NMDA Antagonist, Ketamine, in Humans Archives of General Psychiatry March 1, 1994
- Ketamine-Induced Deficits in Auditory and Visual Context-Dependent Processing in Healthy Volunteers Archives of General Psychiatry December 1, 2000
- Taming the Ketamine Tiger Anesthesiology August 6, 2010
- Glutamate and the Neural Basis of the Subjective Effects of Ketamine Archives of General Psychiatry February 1, 2008
- Effect of Subanesthetic Ketamine on Intrinsic Functional Brain Connectivity Anesthesiology August 13, 2012
and 12 more in the library