Merle G. Paule

TL;DR: Ketamine increased N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor NR1 subunit messenger RNA in the frontal cortex where enhanced cell death was apparent and a shorter duration of ketamine anesthesia did not result in neuronal cell death in the 5-day-old monkey.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that a single 24-h episode of ketamine anesthesia, occurring during a sensitive period of brain development, results in very long-lasting deficits in brain function in primates and provides proof-of-concept that general anesthesia during critical periods of brainDevelopment can result in subsequent functional deficits.

TL;DR: The hypothesis that exposure to multiple, but not single, procedures requiring anesthesia before age 3 yr is associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes is suggested, and changes in specific neuropsychological domains that are associated with behavioral and learning difficulties are suggested.

TL;DR: Data show that treatment with ketamine up to 3 h is without adverse effects as determined by nerve cell death, and the threshold duration below which no neurotoxicity would be expected is somewhere between 3 and 9 h.

TL;DR: Findings indicate that if NMDA receptors are blocked during a specific period in neonatal life (first two weeks postnatally in the rat), massive apoptotic neurodegeneration results, due not to excitotoxic overstimulation of neurons but to deprivation of stimulation.