EFFECT OF NEONATAL KETAMINE TREATMENT ON EXPLORATORY AND ANXIETY-LIKE BEHAVIOURS IN ADULTHOOD

Kübra Akillioglu ^1*, Mustafa Karadepe ²

¹Division of Neurophysiology, Department of Physiology, Medical Faculty, University of Cukurova, ²Department of internal medicine, Medical Faculty of Cukurova

Received: March 11, 2020; Revised: May 17, 2020; Accepted: June 15, 2020; Published online: June 15, 2020.

Abstract: In this study, we evaluated the effect of neonatal ketamine exposure on anxiety-like and exploratory behaviours in adult the Balb/c and C57BL/6 strains of mice which anxiety responses are different.
Ketamine was administered at two different doses single dose (10, 20mg/kg, 0.1ml/10gr body weight, intraperitoneally) and repeated doses (10, 20mg/kg every 240 min (thrice times) on the 7th postnatal day to male Balb/c and C57BL/6 mice. In adulthood, open-field (OF) and elevated plus maze (EPM) apparatuses were used to evaluate exploratory and anxiety-like behaviour.
In the C57BL/6 mice, the 20mg/kg single dose decreased open-arm time and total-arm entries in EPM and increased time of central latency and decreased distance travelled in OF. Both the 10 and 20mg/kg repetitive doses increased time of central latency and decreased time spent in the centre, frequency of rearing and centre crossing in OF and decreased open-arm time, total-arm entries, number of open-arm entries in EPM. The 20 mg/kg repetitive dose decreased number of head dipping behaviours in EPM. In the Balb/c mice, both the single and repetitive 10 mg/kg-20mg/kg doses had no significant effect on anxiety-like and exploratory behaviours.
There were no significant differences in anxiety-like and exploratory behaviour in different strains by the single 10mg/kg dose. However, in the C57BL/6 mice, both the single and repetitive 20mg/kg doses and the 10mg/kg repetitive dose increased anxiety-like behaviour and decreased exploratory behaviour in EPM and OF. In conclusion, hereditary factors may be effective on the effect of neonatal ketamine treatment on anxiety-like and exploratory behaviour.; Keywords: Anxiety, Exploratory behavior, Balb/c mice, C57BL mice, ketamine

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