Ketamine and phencyclidine: the good, the bad and the unexpected.
D Lodge, M S Mercier
British Journal of Pharmacology September 2015 DOI: 10.1111/bph.13222 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Esketamine Ketamine |
| Key findings | The review argues that the 1983 discovery of ketamine's and phencyclidine's NMDA receptor antagonist properties was a key step in understanding their pharmacology, including their psychotomimetic effects in humans. It contends that these findings are relevant to modern hypotheses of schizophrenia and to drug discovery, and discusses ketamine's rapid antidepressant effects in humans in relation to other glutamatergic mechanisms. |
Abstract
The history of ketamine and phencyclidine from their development as potential clinical anaesthetics through drugs of abuse and animal models of schizophrenia to potential rapidly acting antidepressants is reviewed. The discovery in 1983 of the NMDA receptor antagonist property of ketamine and phencyclidine was a key step to understanding their pharmacology, including their psychotomimetic effects in man. This review describes the historical context and the course of that discovery and its expansion into other hallucinatory drugs. The relevance of these findings to modern hypotheses of schizophrenia and the implications for drug discovery are reviewed. The findings of the rapidly acting antidepressant effects of ketamine in man are discussed in relation to other glutamatergic mechanisms.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on ketamine, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ketamine and Ketamine Metabolite Pharmacology: Insights into Therapeutic Mechanisms | 2018 | Review | |
| Mechanisms of Ketamine Action as an Antidepressant | 2018 | Review | |
| Synthesizing the Evidence for Ketamine and Esketamine in Treatment-Resistant Depression: An International Expert Opinion on the Available Evidence and Implementation Adults with treatment-resistant depression | 2021 | Review | |
| Ketamine Pharmacology: An Update (Pharmacodynamics and Molecular Aspects, Recent Findings) | 2013 | Review | |
| A Consensus Statement on the Use of Ketamine in the Treatment of Mood Disorders | 2017 | Review and consensus statement |
Citations in the library
Cited by 55
- A historical review of antidepressant effects of ketamine and its enantiomers. Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior February 5, 2020
- Comparison of R-ketamine and rapastinel antidepressant effects in the social defeat stress model of depression Psychopharmacology August 3, 2016
- The abuse liability of ketamine: A scoping review of preclinical and clinical studies. Journal of Psychiatric Research May 1, 2022
- Effect fingerprinting of new psychoactive substances (NPS): What can we learn from in vitro data? Pharmacology & Therapeutics February 1, 2018
- Pharmacological Investigations of the Dissociative ‘Legal Highs’ Diphenidine, Methoxphenidine and Analogues PLoS One June 17, 2016
and 50 more in the library
Cites 41
- A Randomized Trial of an N-methyl-D-aspartate Antagonist in Treatment-Resistant Major Depression Archives of General Psychiatry August 1, 2006
- Subanesthetic Effects of the Noncompetitive NMDA Antagonist, Ketamine, in Humans Archives of General Psychiatry March 1, 1994
- Recent advances in the phencyclidine model of schizophrenia American Journal of Psychiatry October 1, 1991
- 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
- The dissociative anaesthetics, ketamine and phencyclidine, selectively reduce excitation of central mammalian neurones by N‐methyl‐aspartate British Journal of Pharmacology June 1, 1983
and 36 more in the library