ArticleBMC anesthesiology2016
Early ketamine exposure results in cardiac enlargement and heart dysfunction in Xenopus embryos.
Article in BMC anesthesiology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Safety evaluation of a ketamine-dodecyl maltoside combination using angiogenesis and embryonic development models.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Ephedrine-disrupted synaptogenesis signaling and behavioral abnormalities in adult zebrafish.Environmental science and ecotechnology · 2026Article
- Article
- Comparison of Etomidate, Benzocaine, and MS222 Anesthesia with and without Subsequent Flunixin Meglumine Analgesia in African Clawed Frogs (Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS · 2018Article
- Ketamine Modulates Zic5 Expression via the Notch Signaling Pathway in Neural Crest Induction.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2018Article
- Mechanistic studies on ketamine-induced mitochondrial toxicity in zebrafish embryos.Neurotoxicology and teratologyArticle
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundKetamine is a commonly used clinical anesthetic and a popular recreational drug. However, with the exception of studies about the nervous system, studies about the effect of early ketamine exposure on embryos are rare. Xenopus laevis is a commonly used vertebrate model for assessing teratogenicity. Therefore, we treated Xenopus embryos with ketamine to evaluate its teratogenicity on embryos.
methodsXenopus embryos were treated with ketamine from stages 8 to 21. Embryonic and cardiac morphology were analyzed using living embryo imaging and whole-mount RNA in situ hybridization (WMISH). Heart function was measured by heart rate and ventricular shortening fraction (VSF). The mRNA expression levels of several heart development-related genes were determined by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The protein expression levels of XMLC2, phospho-histone H3 (pH3) and histone H3 were determined by western blot.
resultsKetamine caused concentration-dependent increases in mortality and shortening of body length. At a dose of 0.5 mg/ml, ketamine exposure resulted in cardiac enlargement as the primary manifestation of several malformations: gut defects, a curved axis and shortened body length. Cardiac cells underwent increased proliferation. Moreover, the heart rate and ventricular shortening fraction were decreased, findings indicative of heart dysfunction. XMLC2 expression levels were down-regulated at stages 28, 32/33, 35/36 and 46.
conclusionsKetamine exposure during early development has teratogenic effects on Xenopus embryos. The heart enlargement and decreased VSF may result from the down-regulation of XMLC2 mRNA and protein levels. These findings provide new insight into the potential fetal defects induced by ketamine exposure during early pregnancy.
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