On Sun, 15 Aug 1999 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
>
> You may be thinking of ketamine hydorchloride. We used this agent as the
> primary anesthetic for neurosurgery on lower primates, and it has also been
> in use for pediatric purposes as well. The use of this drug was controversial
> years ago, and still carries stigma with some IRB's. I believe it is
> preferred by some for its reduced cardiovascular side effects when compared
> with other agents.
Quite a number of years back, I recall working with an undergraduate
on a project involving ketamine administered to rats. At the time it
was claimed to be a unique "dissociative anesthetic" which blocked
pain without depressing the nervous system. I recall reviewing the
literature and discovering that the evidence in favour of this claim
was not impressive. We also found that it functioned poorly as an
analgesic agent for the rat, using the tail flick test (shine a hot
light on the animal's tail until it flicks it. If you instead smell
burning rat tail, you have a good analgesic agent (just kidding: you
always turn the light off before this point is reached)).
Anyway, for the rat at least, I never trusted it as a humane
anesthetic agent. If people claim to be awake while operated using it,
I have no trouble believing this.
-Stephen
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470
Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661
Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Lennoxville, QC
J1M 1Z7
Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
------------------------------------------------------------------------
