Effect of Ketamine on the Acetylcholine Concentration of Various Regions of Rat Brain

Abstract

After Ketamine administration (30 mg/kg, intraperitoneally), acetylcholine (ACh) concentrations did not change significantly at 10 min, but started to decrease in several brain regions at 30 min, .ind decreased markedly in all regions at 60 min. ACh levels returned to almost normal after 4 hrs. The decrease was most marked in pons-medulla, cerebral cortex, hippocampus, and corpus striatum. In these regions, a dose (5 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) far below the anesthetic doses decreased ACh levels as much as 30 mg/kg. The derease in ACh levels induced by ketamine may be associated with hallucination, delirium, dream, amnesia, and analgesia which occur in humans at subanesthetic doses of ketamine and during recovery from ketamine anesthesia. Key words: Ketamine. Acetylcholine