Emerging Trends in the Abuse of Ketamine and its Side Effects on Health: Toxicology and Addiction Potential

Ketamine, a noncompetitive N-methyl-d-asparate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, has been widely used in clinical settings as an anesthetic agent. However, ketamine also causes delirium and hallucination, which lead to its recreational use and abuse. Here, we reviewed the trends in ketamine abuse and its side effects on health, including the research advances in epidemiology, toxicology and its addiction potential. Due to the lower cost, ketamine have become the most popular abused drug in Eastern Asia, especially in the young people. Ketamine cause damages in the peripheral system as well as central nervous system (CNS). Both symptoms in the lower urinary tract such as cystitis and cardiac pathology have been noted. In the CNS, chronic ketamine causes neurodegeneration pathology as demonstrated in animal's studies. Several reports on the ketamine dependence in human cases and animals as well, which indicate the addiction potential of ketamine. To devise therapeutic approaches for ketamine abusers, future studies focusing on understanding the changes in the CNS during the formation ketamine dependence are desired.