Hi - In a message dated 8/15/99 9:57:41 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > Quite a number of years back, I recall working with an undergraduate > on a project involving ketamine administered to rats. At the time it > was claimed to be a unique "dissociative anesthetic" which blocked > pain without depressing the nervous system. I recall reviewing the > literature and discovering that the evidence in favour of this claim > was not impressive. We also found that it functioned poorly as an > analgesic agent for the rat, using the tail flick test (shine a hot > light on the animal's tail until it flicks it. If you instead smell > burning rat tail, you have a good analgesic agent (just kidding: you > always turn the light off before this point is reached)). > > Anyway, for the rat at least, I never trusted it as a humane > anesthetic agent. If people claim to be awake while operated using it, > I have no trouble believing this. > > -Stephen > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 > Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 > Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Lennoxville, QC > J1M 1Z7 > Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Stephen et al. - I too had/have great concerns about the use of this drug to induce anesthesia based perhaps on somewhat anecdotal evidence. When you spend a year or so in a daily schedule of training macaques, you get to 'know' each individual animal quite well. It was my sense over time that post-surgical behavior (e.g., fear) of some of 'my' monkeys may have extended beyond the effects of the focal lesion sites and general reactions to the surgery. . . A bond of trust was irrevocably broken. My curiosity was stimulated by this topic once again yesterday, and I looked for more recent *psychological* research on ketamine last night after returning from a social event. My take on this brief review of the literature is that ketamine is still widely used as an anesthetic for animals as well as humans, and is still a hot topic of research. (almost 3,000 citations generated by Medline) Behavioral data is minimal compared to neurophysiological data (e.g., NMDA receptor effects, neurotransmitter inreractions, etc.) There is recent evidence however that in humans, ketamine induces thought disorder secondary to the disruption of working memory, and that it disrupts semantic memory. Ketamine may exacerbate both the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. The effects in schizophrenia may be localized and differentiated based on the activity of different isomers of ketamine. Ketamine may also selectively affect spontaneous EEG and sensory evoked potentials. A number of the abstracts read indicate that neurophysiological effects of ketamine may be long-standing. <A HREF="http://www.medscape.com/server-java/MedPage?med95-97+932877+(ketamine+hc l)">ketamine-memory</A> <A HREF="http://www.medscape.com/server-java/MedPage?med95-97+688692+(ketamine+hc l)">ketamine-psychosis</A> <A HREF="http://www.medscape.com/server-java/MedPage?med95-97+462700+(ketamine+hc l)">ketamine-psychosis2</A> <A HREF="http://www.medscape.com/server-java/MedPage?med95-97+407235+(ketamine+hc l)">ketamine-eeg</A> I found that three recently published studies on the safety of ketamine as an anesthetic (based on a read of abstract alone) may be lacking in systematic assessment of psychological variables. Same old, same old neglect of behavior data in medical research ??. . . I wonder how agitation was measured. Will check this out next trip to the library. <A HREF="http://www.medscape.com/server-java/MedPage?med95-97+892160+(ketamine+hc l)">ketamine-pediatric safety</A> <A HREF="http://www.medscape.com/server-java/MedPage?med95-97+582483+(ketamine+hc l)">ketamine-intl safety</A> <A HREF="http://www.medscape.com/server-java/MedPage?med95-97+270596+(ketamine+hc l)">ketamine-pediatric safety2</A> Don't know if this helps, Nancy. . . nonetheless, thanks for the interesting diversion. I enjoyed looking into this topic again. I have never allowed ketamine to be administered to my daughters. A brief reevaluation has not changed my stand on this issue. Sandra NR p.s. Stephen, you might find this study of interest ! <A HREF="http://www.medscape.com/server-java/MedPage?med98-99+264625+(ketamine+hc l)">ketamine - rat analgesia</A> ****************************************************************************** * Sandra Nagel Randall, Ph.D. Wayne County Community College District, MI Department of Human and Community Development 22265 Carleton Ave. Southfield, MI 48034 Athabasca University, Alberta, Canada Biopsychology Consultant [EMAIL PROTECTED] Off: 248-948-8162 Fax: 248-948-5090 <A HREF="http://members.aol.com/snrandall">http://members.aol.com/snrandall</A> ****************************************************************************** *****
