Apoptosis in Adult Mouse Brain after Chronic Poisoning of Ketamine / 法医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the effect of chronic poisoning of ketamine on brain cell apoptosis in adult mouse under different duration and doses. Methods The mouse model of chronic poisoning of ketamine was established on adult mouse by tail vein injection of ketamine twice every week with different doses (4, 10, 20 and 30 m g/kg). The mice were sacrificed after continuous injection of ketamine of 1, 2, 4, 8 and 12 weeks. The qualitative assessment of apoptosis was made by transmission electron microscope and the quantitative assessment was made by Caspase-3 im m umofluorescence staining method and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dU TP nick end labeling (TUNEL ) to estimate the time point of apoptosis. All the experimental results were statistically analyzed. Results The neuron apoptosis was ob-served in hippocam pus and corpus striatum by transmission electron microscope one week after adminis-tration, and continued for eight weeks. High level of Caspase-3 expression was observed one week after administration, but with a lowlevel expression after 4 weeks. The num ber of TUNEL positive cells ob-viously increased one week after administration and maintained in ahigh num ber at 4 weeks. Conclu-sion Ketamine by tail vein injection could induce neuron apoptosis in adult mouse.