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Updated: Feb 22, 2026

Assessing Changes in Volatile General Anesthetic Sensitivity of Mice after Local or Systemic Pharmacological Intervention
Published on: October 16, 2013
N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor agonists and antagonists partially affect the duration of ketamine anesthesia in the
Tatsuhiko Kurato1, Yuji Kiuchi2, Hajime Yasuhara3
1Department of Anesthesiology and Resuscitology, School of Medicine, Shinshu University, 3-1-1 Asahi, 390, Matsumoto City, Nagano, Japan.
Abstract:
The effects of intracerebroventricular injection of excitatory amino acids which act on the N-Methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor complex on the duration of loss of righting reflex (DLRR) induced by intravenous injection to ketamine (20 mg/kg) were investigated in rats. Ketamine-induced DLRR was 10.3 min, but NMDA receptor agonistsD-alanine (200 μg) or NMDA (0.15 μg) did not change DLRR. However,D-alanine combined with NMDA significantly shortened DLRR (7.7 min). The NMDA receptor antagonist 7-chlorokynurenic acid (10 μg) alone prolonged DLRR significantly (16.2 min), but not when combined withD-alanine. These data suggest that NMDA receptor blockade contributes at least partially to the mechanism of ketamine anesthesia.
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