Effects of ketamine on fear memory extinction: a review of preclinical literature.
Frontiers in neuroscience January 1, 2025 Martin Boese, Rina Berman, Kennett Radford et al. 5 citations
This review summarizes preclinical studies on how ketamine affects fear extinction, the process of learning that trauma-related cues are no longer threatening. Findings are inconsistent: ketamine may enhance, impair, have no effect, or produce mixed effects on fear extinction, depending on dosage, route, and timing of administration. The authors recommend future research include more female subjects, use clinically relevant doses and routes, and employ behavioral assays relevant to human PTSD to improve translation from animal studies to clinical treatment.