Age, Dose, and Locomotion: Decoding Vulnerability to Ketamine in C57BL/6J and BALB/c Mice.
Biomedicines June 25, 2023 Wen-Chien Chen, Tzong-Shi Wang, Fang-Yu Chang et al. 12 citations
Ketamine, a drug abused for its psychedelic effects, alters movement differently depending on a mouse's age, strain, and dose. Adolescent and adult male mice from two strains, C57BL/6J and BALB/c, were given ketamine at 0, 25, or 50 mg/kg after a 30-minute baseline. In C57BL/6J mice, both age groups showed significantly increased distance traveled and speed after ketamine, but BALB/c mice did not. The higher dose delayed the onset of hyperlocomotion compared to the lower dose. Adolescent C57BL/6J mice showed greater locomotor activation than adults, a difference not seen in BALB/c mice. These results indicate that sensitivity to ketamine's effects on movement is biologically determined.