121) Ketamine induces neurological deficits on working memory.

SERRANO, L. ; GUEVARA, M. ; BAIARDI, G. ; GARGIULO, P.A.

San Juan.

Encuentro; Second Joint Meeting of the Biology Societies from Argentina (Segunda Reunión Conjunta de Sociedades de Biología de la República Argentina).; 2011

Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo.

NQ17 - KETAMINE INDUCES NEUROLOGICAL DEFICITS ON WORKING MEMORY Serrano L1*, Guevara M1*, Baiardi G2, Gargiulo PA1 . *Contributed equally. 1Laboratory of Neurosciences and Experimental Psychology, FCM, UNCuyo, Mendoza. 2Laboratory of Neuropharmacology, FCQ, UCA, Córdoba, Argentina. Ketamine constitutes an NMDA-antagonist with an important psychotogenic potential and its administration in healthy subjects can lead to similar symptoms to those observed in schizophrenic patients. Because of this fact, it is nowadays suggested that NMDA dysfunction within the central nervous system could be involved in schizophrenia pathophysiology and specially linked with its negative and cognitive symptoms. In this context, we assessed the working memory effects produced by ketamine in animals, taking into account that this function is commonly affected in schizophrenic patients. To this aim we used an experimental cohort of male rats which were evaluated on a hole board task after a treatment with parenteral administration of saline (controls, n=20), ketamine 5 mg/Kg (n=20), ketamine 10 mg/Kg (n=20), ketamine 15 mg/Kg (n=24) and ketamine 20 mg/Kg (n=19). The results evidenced a working memory disruption in groups treated with high dosis of ketamine vs controls (p