The Neurobiology of Ketamine and Addiction

Sammanfattning: Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic prescription drug and has been used for general anesthesia. The research surrounding this chemical compound has revealed conflicting evidence of its potential use in health care and addiction treatment. On one side, ketamine is a widespread drug of abuse associated with neurocognitive deficits and neurotoxicity, on the other side ketamine has recently been found to have a variety of potential uses, including but not limited to; antidepressant effects, reconsolidation of drug-related memories and disrupting maladaptive rumination. Ketamine’s ability to induce psychedelic and mystic experiences, reconsolidation of memories, antidepressant effects, and its ability to reduce cue-induced drug craving makes it a potentially useful tool in drug abuse therapy. Most of the negative side-effects of ketamine seem to be apparent at high doses and in frequent use but low doses and non-frequent use has a low risk of harm, therefore, careful consideration and extensive research are required before ketamine can be widely used in the public and in health care for treatment strategies. This thesis aims to explore the role of ketamine and its neurobiological effects in the treatment of addiction and depression.