title: Ketamine anesthesia helps preserve neuronal viability.
abstract: The dissociative anesthetic ketamine that acts as an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonist has been reported to improve neurological damage after experimental ischemic challenges. Here we show that deep anesthesia with ketamine before euthanasia by decapitation improves the quality of neonatal mouse neuronal brain slice preparations. Specifically we found that neurons of the locus coeruleus (LC) and hypoglossal motor neurons had significantly higher input resistances, and LC neurons that generally are difficult to voltage control, could be more reliably voltage clamped compared to control neurons.
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle, University Drive, Newcastle, NSW 2308, Australia.
authors.forename: Ramatis B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: de Oliveira
authors.forename: Brett
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.forename: Marcus C H
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Howlett
authors.forename: Fernanda S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Gravina
authors.forename: Max W S
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Mohammad S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Imtiaz
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Callister
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Alan M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Brichta
authors.forename: Dirk F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: van Helden
mesh_terms: D000758:Anesthesia; D000778:Anesthetics, Dissociative / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D002470:Cell Survival; D025802:Electric Capacitance; D017097:Electric Impedance; D007002:Hypoglossal Nerve / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007649:Ketamine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008125:Locus Coeruleus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D008564:Membrane Potentials / Q000187:drug effects; D051379:Mice; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D009926:Organ Preservation / Q000379:methods; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D020858:Tissue and Organ Harvesting / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000778:Anesthetics, Dissociative; D007649:Ketamine