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Anesthetics as emerging therapeutics for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): bridging bench and bedside

Molecular Psychiatry (2026)Cite this article

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Abstract

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe psychiatric disorder that develops in the months and years following exposure to severe trauma. Despite growing research, there remain gaps in understanding the full pathophysiology of PTSD, so that treatments are not universally effective, contributing to a significant public health burden. Therefore, it is necessary to explore novel therapeutic approaches. Anesthetics have recently been shown as a novel therapeutic agent with promising results in the treatment of PTSD. This review summarizes key mechanisms of anesthetics, including N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists, α2-adrenergic receptor agonists, Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid (GABA)-A Receptor-related anesthetics and opioids, and their translational potential to treatment of PTSD.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by grant numbers 2021ZD0202003 from Brain Science and Brain-like Intelligence Technology - National Science and Technology Major Project (YS), grant numbers 82320108005 from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (YS), the Phase II Construction of Shanghai High-Level Local University Innovation Team from Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine (YS) and YG2024LC11 from Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (YS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200030, China

    Xinchun Mei, Siqi Ying & Yuan Shen

  2. Department of Neurobiology, Beijing Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100850, China

    Haitao Wu

  3. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Brain Health Institute, National Center for Mental Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine and School of Psychology, Shanghai, 200030, China

    Tifei Yuan

  4. Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College St., Toronto, M5T 1R8, Ontario, Canada

    James N. Samsom

  5. Department of Psychiatry, Tenth People’s Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200072, China

    Xin Liu

  6. Department of Anesthesiology, Songjiang Research Institute, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Emotions and Affective Disorders (LEAD), Shanghai, 201620, China

    Tianle Xu

  7. Institute of Mental Health and drug discovery, Oujiang Laboratory (Zhejiang Lab for Regenerative Medicine, Vision and Brain Health), School of Psychiatry, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, 325000, China

    Fang Liu

  8. Department of Psychiatry, Tongji Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200065, China

    Yuan Shen

Authors
  1. Xinchun Mei
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  2. Haitao Wu
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  3. Tifei Yuan
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  4. James N. Samsom
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  5. Siqi Ying
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  6. Xin Liu
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  7. Tianle Xu
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  8. Fang Liu
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  9. Yuan Shen
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Contributions

XM, SY, XL, TY and YS outlined the specific issues reviewed in this paper and prepared the draft of the manuscript. JNS and FL reviewed the final draft and helped address reviewers’ comments. HW, TX, FL and YS participated in the initial discussions on developing this paper, reviewed the initial draft and provided important input into the final document which was reviewed and approved by all authors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yuan Shen.

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Mei, X., Wu, H., Yuan, T. et al. Anesthetics as emerging therapeutics for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): bridging bench and bedside. Mol Psychiatry (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-026-03538-y

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