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Entactogen Effects of Ketamine: A Reverse-Translational Study
Evan M Hess1, Dede K Greenstein1, Olivia L Hutchinson1
1Department of Psychiatry (Hess, Hutchinson, Gould), Department of Neurobiology (Gould), and Department of Pharmacology (Gould), University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore; Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiology Branch, NIMH, Bethesda, Md. (Greenstein, Zarate); Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System, Baltimore (Gould).
Ketamine enhances pleasure from social interactions and promotes prosocial behavior in humans and rats. This suggests ketamine has entactogen effects, increasing feelings of connection and willingness to help others.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychopharmacology
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Ketamine is an NMDA receptor antagonist with known antidepressant effects.
- Its potential prosocial and entactogen effects remain less understood.
- Assessing these effects is crucial for understanding ketamine's therapeutic potential.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the prosocial and entactogen effects of ketamine.
- To investigate ketamine's impact on pleasure derived from social situations.
- To assess ketamine's influence on helping behavior in a preclinical model.
Main Methods:
- Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials in patients with treatment-resistant depression.
- Utilized four items from the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS) assessing social pleasure.
- Employed a harm aversion task in rats to measure helping behavior.
Main Results:
- Ketamine significantly increased self-reported pleasure from social situations, including helping others, for one week post-treatment.
- Ketamine-treated rats demonstrated increased helping behavior, protecting cage mates at a cost.
- These behavioral changes persisted for up to six days in the rodent model.
Conclusions:
- Ketamine administration is associated with enhanced prosocial behavior and increased pleasure from social interactions.
- Findings in both human and rodent models suggest ketamine possesses entactogen properties.
- Ketamine's ability to foster social connection and altruism warrants further investigation.
