Is Ketamine an Opioid?

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Klara Hatinova

Klara Hatinova

Klara is postgraduate researcher in experimental psychology at the
University of Oxford.

Is Ketamine an Opioid?

No, ketamine is not an opioid. Opioids are pharmacological agents/drugs that act primarily on opioid receptors, reducing pain transmission. Opioids can be illegal substances, like heroin, synthetic, like fentanyl, oxycodone, hydrocodone or injectable analgesic drugs like morphine and codeine [1, 2]. Our body naturally also produces endogenous opioids that activate opioid receptors, which can account for pleasure after exercise or pain suppression during stressful periods [2]

Ketamine, on the other hand, is a dissociative anaesthetic that binds to the NMDA glutamate receptor. It is a non-competitive antagonist, meaning it prevents the effects of glutamate by binding to a side pocket in the NMDA receptor [3].

Both opioids and ketamine can, however, comparably reduce pain signalling, although the way they achieve this is different [4].

Ketamine can also be used to treat mental illnesses, such as OCD and bipolar disorder. You can find out more in our blogs about ketamine for ocd and ketamine for bipolar disorder.

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Klara Hatinova

Klara Hatinova

Klara is a postgraduate researcher in experimental psychology at the University of Oxford. She has worked across a spectrum of hot topics in neuroscience, including her current project measuring reinforcement learning strategies in Parkinson’s disease. Previously, she studied the efficacy of psilocybin as a therapy for critical mental health conditions and examined molecular circadian rhythms of migraine disorders. She completed her undergraduate degree in Neuroscience at the University of Glasgow and participated in a year abroad at the University of California, where she worked on a clinical trial for spinal cord injury.