Effects of physostigmine, scopolamine, and mecamylamine on the sleeping time induced by ketamine in the rat.

Male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 116--241 g were injected i.p. with ketamine hydrochloride, 80 mg per kilo of body weight. Immediately after loss of righting reflex, scopolamine, physostigmine, and mecamylamine were administered i.p. to different groups of rats. Control animals received sterile saline by the same route. The ketamine-induced sleeping time was significantly prolonged by physostigmine and scopolamine, but not by mecamylamine. After the delayed injection of physostigmine, the ketamine sleeping time was longer. These results, although too preliminary for a mechanistic interpretation, suggest that multiple neurotransmitter systems, probably including the cholinergic system, are involved in the mechanism of action of ketamine-induced narcosis.

Ketamine as the sole anaesthetic agent for laparoscopic sterilization. The effects of premedication on the frequency of adverse clinical reactions.

Ketamine, as the sole anaesthetic agent, was assessed in a double-blind study of 135 female patients who underwent laparoscopic sterilization. The patients were allocated randomly to one of four groups according to the type (pentobarbitone or droperidol) and route (i.v. or i.m.) of premedication. In addition all the patients received hyoscine i.m. Neither pentobarbitone nor droperidol prevented adverse emergence reactions and the total frequency of dream-like activity. However, patients who received pentobarbitone i.v. did not recall unpleasant dream-like activity. Patients who received droperidol i.v. had the shortest recovery time after ketamine anaesthesia. There was a high incidence of visual disturbances in all groups. Droperidol protected against the initial increase of heart rate, and pentobarbitone against the increase in arterial systolic pressure associated with ketamine.

Anaesthesia for dilatation, evacuation and curettage in outpatients: comparison of subanaesthetic doses of ketamine and sodium methohexitone-nitrous oxide anaesthesia.

Sub-dissociative doses of ketamine compared unfavourably with methohexitonenitrous oxide anaesthesia for dilatation, evacuation and curettage. We could not separate the desirable effects of analgesia and amnesia from the unwanted dream effects and visual disturbances. Although the time of clinical recovery was similar, the Trieger Motor Test revealed a delay in return to normal in both groups.

Postnatal effects of chemically induced intrauterine growth retardation on some hematological values in the rat.

The effects of artificially induced intrauterine growth retardation on hematological values of the rat are manifest only temporarily in the red blood cell number, the amount of hemoglobin, and the 2,3-DPG. These three elements reached normal levels after the fifth day of postnatal life. We believe that this temporary effect may be the consequence of the short-term effect of hydroxyurea (the drug used to produce intrauterine growth retardation) upon DNA synthesis in the hematopoietic system. The animals compensate for the low red cell number and low hemoglobin by raising the levels of 2,3-DPG brought about by the temporary anoxia.

Anesthesia for jejunoileal shunt: review of 88 cases.

Experience with 88 obese pateints undergoing jejunoileal shunt is reviewed, with emphasis on preoperative preparation and assessment, conduct of anesthesia, postoperative care, and anesthesia-related complications. There was no intraoperative mortality, and postoperative morbidity was minimal. The operation can be viewed as a short-term answer to the malignancy of massive obesity, since physiologic abnormalities are reversible; however, only hospitals that can provide full surgical, medical, endocrinologic, and anesthesia services, backed by modern ancillary investigative ability, should perform this operation.