Ketamine as SSRI?

[madsci]

Ketamines and other barbituates target the Beta subunit of the GABA (gammahydroxybutyric acid) receptors, this causes an increase in the duration of channel openings releasing Ca2+ a common second messenger. This is what i know as a fact.
My futher hypothesis is that several signal transduction cascades are initiated and these in turn interact with 5-HT i dont have sufficient knowledge (yet) to elaborate on this so regard it as a proposed mechanism.

 

[FractalDancer]

Are you saying that ketamine is a barbiturate? That's not true..

 

[vecktor]

Ketamines and other barbituates target the Beta subunit of the GABA (gammahydroxybutyric acid) receptors, this causes an increase in the duration of channel openings releasing Ca2+ a common second messenger. This is what i know as a fact.
My futher hypothesis is that several signal transduction cascades are initiated and these in turn interact with 5-HT i dont have sufficient knowledge (yet) to elaborate on this so regard it as a proposed mechanism.

Ketamine is primarily a noncompetitive NMDA antagonist, a channel blocker. That I know as a fact. it is not a barbuturate, and the relevance of its interaction with GABA in real situations is unknown because whilst it binds to modified frog eggs in a jar, animal tests did not back it up.
Apart from that a fine proposed mechnism

The idea that Ketamine's antidepressant activity has anything to do with serotonin reuptake is pretty shaky. It is just as likely that instead ketamine shakes up the brain processes and reduces the 'depressive loop' in the same way that ECT does.

 

[Nagelfar]

Ketamine; I wonder if it could be used to help with opioid withdrawal in the same way it is a painkiller of a different sort; to get your mind off of the discomfort by "unplugging" you from it... probably a thread on this notion, maybe that's why I am thinking of it, recesses of my memory seeing it before... I tried using ketamine to help me get over a very bad cold and stomache flu; it didn't work; just made me more goofed out from my loopiness of running a high fever.

I probably just need a higher tolerance, but I didn't like my one ketamine experience that was recreational; thought it would be the one "hallucinogen" I would like, being not a psychedelic/deliriant but a dissociative anesthetic and you're more 'plain vanilla' in terms of effects; not a fan of the thought of things unreal before me; though I may be wrong and I may like the opposite since I've never really been exposed to any kind of other hallucinogen. Well ketamine made my world spin upsidedown.... though the same thing happened with me with THC and I never smoke pot so I believe it is a tolerance thing:

...a friend who was a heavy heavy drinker, to the point that he couldn't drive if he didn't have a few shots of hard liquor since he would have had the shakes so bad; didn't have any effect from the same batch of ketamine that I tried; it did nothing to him, it totally changed my perception of reality; like I was in a tunnel, my voice was in coming off of the radio and not my own (completely dissociated from my body: I knew/was aware of what was going on) and then the world spun like I was in a washing machine. (THC, smoking pot, made gravity feel like it was pulling me upward when I laid down, differently but similar feeling of movement, and when I stood in my balcony, on THC, I kept feeling like I was sliding off... so my tolerance for perceptive change drugs of such types is very low; I'm a DARI & opiate user for the most part).

GHB I vaguely liked, it was GABAergic and not NDMA antagonist though, felt just a little sea sick from it; but definitely more of an effect than from benzos; the whole world tilted to one side; but that was highly more tolerable than gravity pulling me upward or being stuck in a washing machine.

I want to give Ketamine, or hell maybe even PCP if I find it, another shot: I am amused by the brand names of ketamine: "Ketanest, Ketaset, and Ketalar"... they need one that is "Ketanice", get it? To contrast "KetaMean". The 2D image makes me almost think a Ketamine derivative (of the NMDA antagonist type) could be altered to have a dual function as a methylphenidate analogue DARI function as well).. though the whole NMDA antagonist seems as versatile as piperidines in general which seem like they could be any of the major recreationally sought for activition receptor sites of the brain

 

[hugo24]

Ketamine is primarily a noncompetitive NMDA antagonist, a channel blocker. That I know as a fact. it is not a barbuturate, and the relevance of its interaction with GABA in real situations is unknown because whilst it binds to modified frog eggs in a jar, animal tests did not back it up.
Apart from that a fine proposed mechnism

The idea that Ketamine's antidepressant activity has anything to do with serotonin reuptake is pretty shaky. It is just as likely that instead ketamine shakes up the brain processes and reduces the 'depressive loop' in the same way that ECT does.

Yeah the AD effects reported are particularly coming from sub-doses,I can't imagine the concentrations reached are going to affect anything else than K's primary target.Answers as well the other thread about DRI being responsible for AD effects.Plus,which SSRI is active after one dose?