A recent UK study made a pretty incredible discovery about ketamine. In the event of a large intake of this substance, the brain could completely stop for a short time before restarting. This phenomenon was observed for the very first time in sheep.
First synthesized in 1962, ketamine is a psychotropic drug used as an anesthetic general . Unfortunately, it is also a powerful drug that wreaks havoc. Despite the fact that science has known about this substance for more than half a century, it still has secrets to reveal. In a study published in the journal Scientific Reports on June 11, 2020, a team of researchers from the University of Cambridge (UK) announced their findings.
The discovery in question was made while scientists were studying the patterns of brain activity in six sheep with Huntington's disease. After giving them ketamine, the researchers observed in five of these animals a complete interruption of brain activity for several minutes! However, it turns out that such a phenomenon had never been observed before.
The study leaders explain that it is not a simple decrease in brain activity. Indeed, it is definitely a question of a complete stop of the brain ! After a few minutes, the sheep's brains started functioning normally again. For Jenny Morton, who led this research, “it was like turning them off and on again”. Moreover, you should know that this was visible thanks to electroencephalographic readings.
The study incorporated several dosages of ketamine, ranging from 3 mg/kg to 24 mg/kg . These are respectively the maximum threshold as an anesthetic and the minimum threshold as a drug. This has made it possible to understand that the cerebral activity of sheep follows a kind of cycle made up of three very distinct stages. According to the researchers, it is a question of sedation followed by dissociative anesthesia and an absence of voluntary movements, then a fully conscious and alert state (still without movements).
In fact, total brain shutdown was observed with the highest dosages. However, the researchers indicated that the animals were still breathing. In other words, some cortical areas were still active, indicating that the brain was still alive and undamaged.
For study leaders, these findings may help better understand how ketamine works on the brain as an anesthetic. In addition, it could be a question of opening up avenues for the use of this substance in order to fight against certain neurological and psychic disorders.
