Is Ketamine Suitable for Use in Glutamate Toxicity Conditions?: An In Vitro Study

Abstract

Ketamine is an anesthetic agent with sedative and analgesic properties frequently used in surgery. However, particular anesthetic substances need to be applied for different diseases and surgical procedures. Can ketamine be used in all operations and in all patients with an additional disease? The purpose of this study was to determine the neurotoxic or neuroprotective effects of different dosages of ketamine in a glutamate-derived toxicity model in olfactory, cortex and cerebellum cell cultures. Glutamate 10⁻⁵mM was added to all culture groups with the exception of the negative control group. Cells were exposed to four different dosages of ketamine for 24 h. At the end of the experiment, analyses were conducted using MTT, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), total oxidant status (TOS) and flow cytometry (annexin V apoptosis marker) tests. The highest viability rate was obtained at the lowest ketamine dosage, at approximately 80% in cerebellum cells, but less than 75% in cortex and olfactory culture cells. Based on our study findings, although ketamine is an NMDA antagonist, it causes an increase in toxicity levels and a decrease in cell viability. Ketamine use should therefore be avoided in neurological events in which glutamate levels increase significantly.

Keywords:

• ketamine
• olfactory
• glutamate
• neurotoxicity
• cortex
• cerebellum

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study was conducted at the Atatürk University Medical Experimental Research (Erzurum, Turkey). The study protocol was approved by the Atatürk University Ethical Committee (36643897-000-E.1800101529).

DECLARATION OF INTEREST

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This study was conducted at the Atatürk University Medical Experimental Research (Erzurum, Turkey). The study protocol was approved by the Atatürk University Ethical Committee (36643897-000-E.1800101529)