Ketamine as a pharmacological model for tongue dyskinesia

The purpose of this article is to document that ketamine hydrochloride, administered at an anesthetic dosage of about 100 mg/kg, produces tongue contractile activity in the rat. The methods for monitoring and quantitating ketamine-induced tongue contractions (KITCs) are described. We also found that neuroleptic agents consistently and readily abolish KITCs. On the basis of these observations and other pharmacological properties of ketamine, we propose that KITCs may be a useful model for studying neuroleptic-induced oral dyskinesia, e.g., tardive dyskinesia. Additional findings in support of this model are presented.