The Affiliated Brain Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, 36 Mingxin Road, Liwan District, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510370, China; Key Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Channelopathies of Guangdong Province and the Ministry of Education of China, Guangzhou Medical University, China. Electronic address: fanni2005@126.com.
2 papers in the library · 66 citations · publishing 2014-2024
Ketamine, a drug that blocks NMDA glutamate receptors, produces symptoms resembling schizophrenia. Analyzing the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) in four groups—135 healthy people given ketamine or saline, 187 chronic ketamine abusers, 154 early-course schizophrenia patients, and 522 chronic schizophrenia patients—revealed five similar symptom dimensions (positive, negative, cognitive, depressed, excitement/dissociation) across all groups. The chronic ketamine group's symptom structure more closely matched the schizophrenia groups than the acute ketamine group did. Symptoms were milder in ketamine users than in schizophrenia patients (Cohen's d = 0.7). The findings suggest ketamine-induced psychosis shares symptom dimensions with schizophrenia, though confounding factors warrant caution.
Chronic ketamine users show worse cognitive performance than healthy controls in visual learning, speed of processing, working memory, and overall cognition. Brain scans reveal stronger functional connectivity between the right anterior cingulate cortex and the right postcentral gyrus in users. This enhanced connectivity is positively linked to reasoning and problem-solving scores, suggesting it may serve as a compensatory mechanism for cognitive deficits. No significant relationship was found between this connectivity and characteristics of ketamine use.