Low dose oral ketamine treatment on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (OKTOP): open-label pilot study

Blood biomarker changes and relationships after low dose oral ketamine treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

This open-label trial (n=25) found that six weeks of low-dose oral ketamine treatment for PTSD was associated with small but significant decreases in both BDNF and VEGF-A blood biomarkers, which were positively correlated with each other, suggesting these two proteins may interact as part of the biological mechanism behind ketamine's effects on PTSD symptoms.

Published

March 16, 2026

Journal

Psychopharmacology

Authors

Quigley, B. L., Orr, E., Kafka, S., Hajishafiee, M., Bouças, A. P., Wellington, N., Dutton, M., Jones, M., Randall, F., Lagopoulos, J., Can, A. T., Hermens, D. F.