Huang Ming-Chyi, Chen Lian-Yu, Chang Hu-Ming, Liang Xiao-Yu, Chen Chih-Ken, Cheng Wan-Ju, Xu Ke
Department of Psychiatry, Taipei City Psychiatric Center, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Front Psychiatry. 2018 Nov 26;9:633. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00633. eCollection 2018.
Ketamine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, is a common drug of abuse worldwide. Existing evidence suggest a disruption of oxytocin system involves in the development of addiction. In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of oxytocin in ketamine addiction by measuring the blood oxytocin levels in ketamine-dependent (KD) patients. Sixty-five KD patients and 65 controls were enrolled. Fasting plasma levels of oxytocin were determined at baseline and 1 and 2 weeks after ketamine withdrawal. Ketamine use variables, Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Visual Analog Scale for craving, and Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-short form were assessed in KD patients. KD patients had significantly lower levels of oxytocin at baseline compared to controls (5.89 ± 2.13 vs. 9.53 ± 4.17 ng/mL, < 0.001). Oxytocin levels increased after one (6.74 ± 2.63, < 0.002) and 2 weeks (6.89 ± 2.69, = 0.01) of withdrawal in KD patient despite the levels were still lower than controls ( = 0.001 and 0.002, respectively). The clinical variables did not correlate with baseline oxytocin levels except BAI scores, which showed a negative correlation with the levels ( = -0.263; = 0.039). We found a distinctively reduced oxytocin level in KD patients and the level did not normalize after early abstinence. Lower oxytocin might be associated with anxious phenotype of ketamine dependence. These results suggest that oxytocin system dysregulated following chronic ketamine abuse and might provide insight in evaluating the potential therapeutic use of oxytocin for treating ketamine dependence.
氯胺酮是一种N-甲基-D-天冬氨酸（NMDA）受体拮抗剂，是全球范围内常见的滥用药物。现有证据表明，催产素系统紊乱与成瘾的发展有关。在本研究中，我们旨在通过测量氯胺酮依赖（KD）患者的血液催产素水平，来研究催产素在氯胺酮成瘾中的作用。招募了65名KD患者和65名对照者。在基线以及氯胺酮戒断后1周和2周时测定空腹血浆催产素水平。对KD患者评估了氯胺酮使用变量、贝克抑郁量表、贝克焦虑量表（BAI）、渴求视觉模拟量表和儿童创伤问卷简表。与对照组相比，KD患者在基线时的催产素水平显著更低（5.89±2.13 vs. 9.53±4.17 ng/mL，P<0.001）。尽管KD患者在戒断1周（6.74±2.63，P<0.002）和2周（6.89±2.69，P = 0.01）后的催产素水平仍低于对照组（分别为P = 0.001和0.002），但仍有所升高。除了BAI评分外，临床变量与基线催产素水平均无相关性，BAI评分与催产素水平呈负相关（r = -0.263；P = 0.039）。我们发现KD患者的催产素水平明显降低，且在早期戒断后该水平未恢复正常。较低的催产素水平可能与氯胺酮依赖的焦虑表型有关。这些结果表明，慢性氯胺酮滥用后催产素系统失调，可能为评估催产素治疗氯胺酮依赖的潜在治疗用途提供思路。
