Effect of ketamine on apoptosis and NR2B expression in hippocampal neural cell of SD infant rats

Objective To observe the effect of ketamine on apoptosis and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor 2B(NR2B) expression in infant SD rat hippocampal neural cells.Methods Forty-five neonatal 7 days SD rats were randomly and equally assigned to three groups of receiving 25 mg/kg ketamine injection(group k1),50 mg/kg(group k2) and 50 ml/kg normal saline(group k0).At 24 h after injection,5 rats of each group were killed,and the NR2B was tested using immunhistochemistry.the apoptosis of neuronal cell by TUNEL method.Thirty rats were measured spatial learning performance by Morris water maze at 42-day-old.Results At 24 h after ketamine injection,the number of apoptotic neural cells increased,which of group K1 9.5±4.2,group K2 23.4±7.6,group K0 was 5.3 ±1.7.The grey values of NR2B for group K1,group K2 and group K0,respectively were 182.36±4.17,179.11±4.28 and 198.25±3.38.Spatial learning performance was not remarkably changed in adult rats.Conclusion At 24 h after treatment with ketamine,the expression of NR2B protein was up-regulated in the hippocampl neural cells of 7-day-old SD rats,the numbers of apoptotic neuronal cells were increased,but spatial learning acquisition during Morris water maze was not obviously changed in adult rats.