Ketamine effects on brain GABA and glutamate levels with 1H-MRS: relationship to ketamine-induced psychopathology
J. Stone, C. Dietrich, R. Edden, Mitul A. Mehta, S. Simoni, Laurence Reed, J. H. Krystal, David Nutt, Gareth J Barker
Molecular Psychiatry January 3, 2012 DOI: 10.1038/mp.2011.171 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Healthy humans |
| Intervention | Ketamine |
| Measures | proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) |
| Topics | Esketamine Ketamine |
| Key findings | Ketamine increased anterior cingulate cortex glutamate levels, and this increase correlated with the degree of positive psychotic symptoms. Ketamine did not affect subcortical GABA levels. |
Abstract
Preclinical studies suggest that ketamine-induced psychopathology is mediated, in part, by increased glutamate release, hypothesized to occur via inhibition of GABAergic interneurons. Using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS), we tested this hypothesis in healthy humans. Ketamine increased anterior cingulate cortex glutamate levels, which correlated with the degree of positive psychotic symptoms. Ketamine did not affect subcortical gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels.
Comparable studies
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| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taming the Ketamine Tiger Volunteers from a prison population | 2010 | Observational study | n = 20 |
| Increased spontaneous MEG signal diversity for psychoactive doses of ketamine, LSD and psilocybin Humans | 2017 | Observational study | |
| Disruption of Frontal–Parietal Communication by Ketamine, Propofol, and Sevoflurane Surgical patients undergoing induction of anesthesia with intravenous ketamine | 2013 | Observational cohort | n = 30 |
| Do the dissociative side effects of ketamine mediate its antidepressant effects? Treatment-resistant inpatients with major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder | 2014 | Observational cohort | n = 108 |
| Concomitant BDNF and sleep slow wave changes indicate ketamine-induced plasticity in major depressive disorder Patients with treatment-resistant major depressive disorder | 2012 | Observational cohort | n = 30 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 63
- Ketamine and Rapid-Acting Antidepressants: A Window into a New Neurobiology for Mood Disorder Therapeutics Annual Review of Medicine October 23, 2014
- Reviewing the ketamine model for schizophrenia Journal of Psychopharmacology November 20, 2013
- Ketamine Decreases Resting State Functional Network Connectivity in Healthy Subjects: Implications for Antidepressant Drug Action PLoS One September 24, 2012
- The effects of ketamine on dopaminergic function: meta-analysis and review of the implications for neuropsychiatric disorders Molecular Psychiatry October 3, 2017
- Ketamine and rapid antidepressant action: new treatments and novel synaptic signaling mechanisms Neuropsychopharmacology July 24, 2023
and 58 more in the library
Cites 4
- Subanesthetic Effects of the Noncompetitive NMDA Antagonist, Ketamine, in Humans Archives of General Psychiatry March 1, 1994
- Activation of Glutamatergic Neurotransmission by Ketamine: A Novel Step in the Pathway from NMDA Receptor Blockade to Dopaminergic and Cognitive Disruptions Associated with the Prefrontal Cortex Journal of Neuroscience April 15, 1997
- In vivo and ex vivo evidence for ketamine-induced hyperglutamatergic activity in the cerebral cortex of the rat: Potential relevance to schizophrenia. NMR in Biomedicine May 11, 2011
- The antidepressant effect of ketamine is not associated with changes in occipital amino acid neurotransmitter content as measured by [1H]-MRS Psychiatry Research January 12, 2011