Ketamine protects cultured neocortical neurons from hypoxic injury.

The general anesthetic ketamine, which has recently been reported to block the excitation of cortical neurons by N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA), was found to markedly reduce neuronal loss in murine neocortical cell cultures exposed to a hypoxic atmosphere or to cyanide. These observations may be relevant to attempts to find pharmacological means of minimizing hypoxic brain damage in the clinical setting.