Journal of Alcoholism & Drug Dependence
Open Access
ISSN: 2329-6488
ISSN: 2329-6488
Udo Bonnet
Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Evangelisches Krankenhaus Castrop- Rauxel,
Grutholzallee 21, D-44577 Castrop-Rauxel
Germany
Short Communication
Striking Similarities between Clinical and Biological Properties of Ketamine and Ethanol: Linking Antidepressant-After Effect and Burgeoning Addiction?
Author(s): Udo Bonnet and Norbert Scherbaum
Udo Bonnet and Norbert Scherbaum
Ketamine is an old drug of abuse showing currently a new wave in its spread. Also, ketamine`s therapeutic quality is currently under strong observation, especially in terms of its value in the treatment of depression and suicidality. It`s a potential revolution in understanding the mechanisms of antidepressant treatment that single and repeated therapeutic administrations of sub-anesthetic ketamine doses are associated with a rapid and robust but transient antidepressant after-effect (ADE) in patients with treatment resistant major depression. There is increasing evidence that this ADE might result primarily from ketamine`s feature of being a non-competitive antagonist of glutamatergic N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-receptors embedded in synaptic membranes of neuronal cortico-limbic networks promoting an extracellular glutamate surge, th.. View More»
DOI:
10.4172/2329-6488.1000198