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Effect of maternal anesthesia with ketamine in the second trimester of pregnancy on cognitive memory and neuron development in hippocampus of rat offspring
Abstract
Purpose: To investigate the effect of maternal anesthesia with ketamine in the second trimester of pregnancy on cognitive memory and neuronal development in rat offspring hippocampus.
Methods: Twenty female Sprague-Dawley rats, were randomly divided into ketamine and control groups with 10 rats each. Rats in control group were fed normal diet, while ketamine group was injected ketamine (10 mg/mL) and kept till they littered. Rat offspring at birth were designated as T0, while offspring aged 15, 20, and 25 days were designated T15, T20 and T25, respectively. After 20 days, (T20) rats were subjected to Morris water maze test, olfactory memory test, and other behavioral tests, Nissl staining and Golgi staining were done and expression of BrdU-positive cells was determined using immunofluorescence.
Results: Escape latency period of ketamine group was significantly higher and the number of original platform crossings was significantly lower than that of control group (p < 0.05). However, there was no significant difference in swimming speed between the two offspring groups (p > 0.05). The number of stagnations in fear conditioning test was significantly lower in ketamine group (p < 0.05). Nissl and Golgi staining showed that cell density in hippocampal CA1 and CA3 areas in T25 offspring as well as the number of pyramidal cells in hippocampus of T20 offspring were significantly lower in ketamine group than in control group (p < 0.05). Proliferation of neurons in DG and SVZ regions of hippocampus in ketamine group was lower than in control group.
Conclusion: Maternal ketamine anesthesia in the second trimester of pregnancy decreases the density of hippocampal neurons, and affects the cognitive and memory functions of rat offspring.
