Skip to content

Neuronal correlates of visual and auditory alertness in the DMT and ketamine model of psychosis

Jörg Daumann, Daniel Wagner, Karsten Heekeren, Anna Neukirch, Christiane M. Thiel, Euphrosyne Gouzoulis‐mayfrank

Journal of Psychopharmacology March 20, 2009 DOI: 10.1177/0269881109103227 (opens in new tab)

Relevant Not relevant

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Randomized double-blind crossover fMRI study Peer reviewed
Sample size 14
Population Healthy volunteers
Interventions DMT S-ketamine
Topics DMT Esketamine Ketamine
Citations 62
Key points DMT reduced BOLD response during alertness tasks, especially in extrastriate and temporal regions, with stronger visual effects; S-ketamine increased activation in left insula and precentral gyrus during auditory alerting. Authors suggest potential differences and overlaps in schizophrenia pathomechanisms, but note conclusions are preliminary.

Abstract

Deficits in attentional functions belong to the core cognitive symptoms in schizophrenic patients. Alertness is a nonselective attention component that refers to a state of general readiness that improves stimulus processing and response initiation. The main goal of the present study was to investigate cerebral correlates of alertness in the human 5HT(2A) agonist and N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) antagonist model of psychosis. Fourteen healthy volunteers participated in a randomized double-blind, cross-over event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study with dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and S-ketamine. A target detection task with cued and uncued trials in both the visual and the auditory modality was used. Administration of DMT led to decreased blood oxygenation level-dependent response during performance of an alertness task, particularly in extrastriate regions during visual alerting and in temporal regions during auditory alerting. In general, the effects for the visual modality were more pronounced. In contrast, administration of S-ketamine led to increased cortical activation in the left insula and precentral gyrus in the auditory modality. The results of the present study might deliver more insight into potential differences and overlapping pathomechanisms in schizophrenia. These conclusions must remain preliminary and should be explored by further fMRI studies with schizophrenic patients performing modality-specific alertness tasks.

Comparable studies

Other randomized controlled trials on DMT, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Dose-Response Study of N,N-Dimethyltryptamine in Humans Experienced hallucinogen users 1994 Double-blind, saline placebo-controlled, randomized study n = 12
DMT Models the Near-Death Experience Healthy participants 2018 Within-subjects placebo-controlled study n = 13
Human brain effects of DMT assessed via EEG-fMRI. Healthy volunteers 2023 Within-subjects, placebo-controlled design n = 20
Psychological Effects of (S)-Ketamine and N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT): A Double-Blind, Cross-Over Study in Healthy Volunteers Healthy volunteers 2005 Double-blind crossover study n = 9
Differential tolerance to biological and subjective effects of four closely spaced doses of N,N-dimethyltryptamine in humans Experienced hallucinogen users 1996 Randomized controlled trial n = 13

Citations in the library

Cited by 44

and 39 more in the library

Cites 16

and 11 more in the library

Related reading

Explore topics

DMT Esketamine Ketamine Addiction