Open AccessKetamine decreases inflammatory and immune pathways after transient hypoxia in late gestation fetal cerebral cortex
Author(s) -
Chang Eileen I.,
Zárate Miguel A.,
Rabaglino Maria B.,
Richards Elaine M.,
Arndt Thomas J.,
KellerWood Maureen,
Wood Charles E.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
physiological reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.918
H-Index - 39
ISSN - 2051-817X
DOI - 10.14814/phy2.12741
Subject(s) - hypoxia (environmental) , fetus , ketamine , cerebral cortex , microglia , inflammation , medicine , anesthesia , cerebral hypoxia , endocrinology , biology , chemistry , pregnancy , ischemia , oxygen , organic chemistry , genetics
Transient hypoxia in pregnancy stimulates a physiological reflex response that redistributes blood flow and defends oxygen delivery to the fetal brain. We designed the present experiment to test the hypotheses that transient hypoxia produces damage of the cerebral cortex and that ketamine, an antagonist of NMDA receptors and a known anti‐inflammatory agent, reduces the damage. Late gestation, chronically catheterized fetal sheep were subjected to a 30‐min period of ventilatory hypoxia that decreased fetal PaO 2 from 17 ± 1 to 10 ± 1 mmHg, or normoxia (PaO 2 17 ± 1 mmHg), with or without pretreatment (10 min before hypoxia/normoxia) with ketamine (3 mg/kg, i.v.). One day (24 h) after hypoxia/normoxia, fetal cerebral cortex was removed and mRNA extracted for transcriptomics and systems biology analysis ( n = 3–5 per group). Hypoxia stimulated a transcriptomic response consistent with a reduction in cellular metabolism and an increase in inflammation. Ketamine pretreatment reduced both of these responses. The inflammation response modeled with transcriptomic systems biology was validated by immunohistochemistry and showed increased abundance of microglia/macrophages after hypoxia in the cerebral cortical tissue that ketamine significantly reduced. We conclude that transient hypoxia produces inflammation of the fetal cerebral cortex and that ketamine, in a standard clinical dose, reduces the inflammation response.