Effect of Ketamine on Limbic GABA and Glutamate: A Human In Vivo Multivoxel Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Study
Frontiers in Psychiatry September 8, 2020 L. Silberbauer, B. Spurny, P. Handschuh et al. 43 citations
Two hours after a single intravenous dose of ketamine (0.8 mg/kg over 50 minutes), healthy adults showed a reduction in the ratio of GABA to total creatine in the hippocampus, as measured by magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging. No significant changes were observed in the glutamate-plus-glutamine ratio or the GABA-to-glutamate-plus-glutamine ratio across seven brain regions. Plasma levels of ketamine and its metabolites norketamine and dehydronorketamine were not significantly associated with changes in any neurotransmitter ratio. The findings suggest that ketamine may alter GABA turnover in the hippocampus, a region relevant to its emerging antidepressant effects.