News Release

Ketamine as anesthetics can damage children's learning and memory ability

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Neural Regeneration Research

Microtubules

image: The microtubules were arranged in a disorganized manner and not parallel to each other in the neonatal rat hippocampus after ketamine treatment (electron microscope, x 3,500). view more 

Credit: <i>Neural Regeneration Research</i>

Recent studies have found that anesthesia drugs have neurotoxicity on the developing neurons, causing learning and memory disorders and behavioral abnormalities. Ketamine is commonly used in pediatric anesthesia. A clinical retrospective study found that children below 3 years old who receive a long time surgery, or because of surgery require ketamine repeatedly will exhibit the performance of school-age learning and memory disorders and behavioral abnormalities. Research group speculates that these abnormalities may be related to the potential neurotoxicity of ketamine. A recent study published in the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 8, No. 17, 2013) showed that ketamine could induce tau phosphorylation and neuronal toxicity in the development of neurons detected using molecular biology techniques from aspects of gene and protein levels. The relevant findings suggest that ketamine induces tau hyperphosphorylation at serine 404, resulting in damage to microtubule and axonal transport. Such damage may cause neurotoxicity and neuronal death in neonatal rats, consistent with previous studies demonstrating ketamine-induced neuronal apoptosis.

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Article: " Ketamine induces tau hyperphosphorylation at serine 404 in the hippocampus of neonatal rats " by Haiyan Jin1, Zhiyong Hu1, Mengjie Dong2, Yidong Wu3, Zhirui Zhu1, Lili Xu4 (1 Department of Anesthesiology, The Children's Hospital, School of Medicine, Key Laboratory of Reproductive Genetics, Ministry of Education, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003, Zhejiang Province, China; 2 PET Center, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003, Zhejiang Province, China; 3 Department of Central Laboratory, The Children's Hospital, School of Medicine, Key Laboratory of Reproductive Genetics, Ministry of Education, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003, Zhejiang Province, China; 4 Department of Anesthesiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310005, Zhejiang Province, China)

Jin HY, Hu ZY, Dong MJ, Wu YD, Zhu ZR, Xu LL. Ketamine induces tau hyperphosphorylation at serine 404 in the hippocampus of neonatal rats. Neural Regen Res. 2013;8(17):1590-1596.

Contact:

Meng Zhao
eic@nrren.org
86-138-049-98773
Neural Regeneration Research
http://www.nrronline.org/

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