• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.220-227
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• 2005

Although ketamine has been used in the field of anesthetic medicine for its safety and favourable respiratory effects, the cardiovascular effects of ketamine is still controversial. To clarify the action and mechanism of ketamine upon cardiovascular system, arterial blood pressure, tension of aortic ring, left ventricular developed pressure and heart rate were measured in rats, Ketamine produced two types of effects on arterial blood pressure in anesthetized rats; monophasic effect (blood pressure lowering) and biphasic effect (initial transient blood pressure increasing following sustained lowering), The ketamine-induced lowering of aterial blood pressure showed a concentration-dependent manner, inhibited by the pretreament of $MgCl_2$ and potentiated by the pretreatment of $CaCl_2$. The ketamine-induced lowering of aterial blood pressure was suppressed by the pretreatment of nifedipine, verapamil or lidocaine. In phenylephrine-precontracted endothelium intact (+E) aortic rings, ketamine sometimes caused a small enhancement of contraction ($112.5{\pm}3.6{\%}$). However, in many experiments, ketamine produced a concentration-dependent relaxation in +E aortic rings precontracted with either phenylephrine or KCl. Ketamine-induced relaxation was significantly greater in KCl-precontracted strips than phenylephrine-precontracted strips. In phenylephrine-precontracted +E aortic rings, the ketamine-induced vasorelaxation was not suppressed by endothelium removal or by the pretreatment of a nitric oxide synthase inhibitors, L-$N^G$-nitro-arginine and a guanylate cyclase inhibitors, methylene blue, suggesting that the ketamine-induced vasorelaxation is not dependent on the endothelial function. In addition, ketamine elicited an increase in left ventricular developed pressure in perfused hearts accompanied by decrease in heart rate. These results suggest that ketamine could evoke a hypotension due to vasorelaxation and decrease in heart rate in rats. The inhibitory effect of cardiovascular system might be associated with modulation of $Ca^{2+}$ homeostasis.