The effects of ketamine on the immune response in the fetal ovine brain in response to hypoxic hypoxia (877.8)

Fetal hypoxia is a reduction in oxygen supply to the fetus. HH occurs when maternal and fetal partial pressure of oxygen is decreased due to maternal partial ventilatory restriction. Recently, our lab reported that HH increased inflammatory genes in the fetal brain, and KET reduced the expression by microarray analysis. We hypothesized that HH causes an inflammatory reaction in the fetal ovine brain, and KET attenuates this response. We examined fetal ovine brain (n=3-5/group) where mother and baby were chronically catheterized, and tracheostomy was performed on the ewe. A 50 % decrease in partial pressure of oxygen was induced by administering nitrogen gas directly to the ewe for 30 min. KET was administered intravenously to the fetus 10 min prior to the induction of HH. Brains were collected 24 hrs post HH stimulus, fixated in 4% paraformaldehyde, and then embedded in paraffin blocks for hematoxylin and eosin staining. After tissue examination under light microscope, lymphocytic infiltration, congestion...