Mental Health Institute, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 139 Renmin (M) Road, Changsha, Hunan, 410011, People's Republic of China.
Brain. 2010 Jul;133(Pt 7):2115-22. doi: 10.1093/brain/awq131. Epub 2010 Jun 2.
Ketamine abuse has been shown to have a deleterious impact on brain function. However, the precise mechanisms of ketamine dependence-induced pathological change remain poorly understood. Although there is evidence for white matter changes in drug abuse, the presence of white matter abnormalities in chronic ketamine users has not been studied. White matter volumes were measured using in vivo diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging data in 41 ketamine-dependent subjects and 44 drug-free healthy volunteers. White matter changes associated with chronic ketamine use were found in bilateral frontal and left temporoparietal cortices. There was also evidence that frontal white matter fractional anisotropy correlated with the severity of drug use (as measured by estimated total ketamine consumption). We provide direct evidence for dose-dependent abnormalities of white matter in bilateral frontal and left temporoparietal regions following chronic ketamine use. The findings suggest a microstructural basis for the changes in cognition and experience observed with prolonged ketamine use. Moreover, the similarities of these changes to those observed in chronic schizophrenia have implications for the glutamate model of this illness.
氯胺酮滥用已被证明对大脑功能有不良影响。然而，氯胺酮依赖诱导的病理性变化的确切机制仍知之甚少。虽然有证据表明药物滥用会导致白质变化，但慢性氯胺酮使用者是否存在白质异常尚未得到研究。使用体内弥散张量磁共振成像数据，对 41 名氯胺酮依赖者和 44 名无毒品健康志愿者进行了白质体积测量。在双侧额叶和左颞顶叶皮质发现了与慢性氯胺酮使用相关的白质变化。此外，有证据表明，额叶白质各向异性分数与药物使用的严重程度（以估计的总氯胺酮消耗量来衡量）相关。我们提供了直接证据，证明在慢性氯胺酮使用后，双侧额叶和左颞顶叶区域的白质存在剂量依赖性异常。这些发现为长期使用氯胺酮导致的认知和体验变化提供了一个微观结构基础。此外，这些变化与慢性精神分裂症观察到的变化相似，这对该疾病的谷氨酸模型具有启示意义。
