Intestinal and liver changes after chronic ketamine and ketamine plus alcohol treatment.

The effects of long-term chronic ketamine treatment on the intestine and the liver were studied in the ICR mice which had daily intraperitoneal injection of ketamine at 30 mg/kg per day for 7 months. The intestine showed no significant pathology after treatment but had a decrease of the positive sites of proliferative cell nuclear antigen in the mucosae of the intestines after ketamine and ketamine plus alcohol (added in the last month) treatment. No significant apoptosis (via TUNEL) nor necrosis (via lactic acid dehydrogenase) was detected in the intestines of all control and ketamine-treated groups, with the exception of an increase of lactic acid dehydrogenase in the mucosae of the intestines of the ketamine plus alcohol group.

Protective effects and potential mechanisms of Pien Tze Huang on cerebral chronic ischemia and hypertensive stroke.

Background: Stroke caused by brain ischemia is the third leading cause of adult disability. Active prevention and early treatment of stroke targeting the causes and risk factors may decrease its incidence, mortality and subsequent disability. Pien Tze Huang (PZH), a Chinese medicine formula, was found to have anti-edema, anti-inflammatory and anti-thrombotic effects that can prevent brain damage.

The toxic effect of ketamine on SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cell line and human neuron.

Ketamine used as an injectable anesthetic in human and animal medicine is also a recreational drug used primarily by young adults often at all night dance parties in nightclubs. The percentage of ketamine users has grown very fast in the last 5 years worldwide. However, this leads to the serious question of the long-term adverse effects of ketamine on our nervous system, particularly the brain, because ketamine as an NMDA antagonist could cause neurons to commit apoptosis.