Elsevier

Brain Research

Volume 895, Issues 1–2, 23 March 2001, Pages 264-267
Brain Research

Short communication
A comparative evaluation of the neurotoxic properties of ketamine and nitrous oxide

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-8993(01)02079-0Get rights and content

Abstract

The general anesthetics, nitrous oxide (N2O) and ketamine, are NMDA antagonists which, like other NMDA antagonists such as MK801, induce a neurotoxic reaction in the rat brain. For MK801 neurotoxicity, both age and sex are important variables (adult rats are more sensitive than immature rats and females are more sensitive than males). In this study we found that ketamine has this same age and sex dependency profile, and N2O has the same age but not sex dependency. Male and female rats are equally sensitive to N2O neurotoxicity.

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Acknowledgements

We thank J. Labruyere and A. Nardi for technical assistance and John Kreitler for constructing the hyperbaric chamber. Supported in part by NIH grants AG 11355 and DA05072, FAER/ABBOTT New investigator Award (VJT), Career Development Award (NIH) DA00406 (VJT) and a NARSAD 2000 Toulmin Distinguished Investigator Award (JWO). The present work was presented in part at the annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiology (1998), Orlando, FL, USA.

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