Basic & clinical pharmacology & toxicology
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Basic Clin. Pharmacol. Toxicol. · Dec 2013
17β-Oestradiol Protects Primary-Cultured Rat Cortical Neurons from Ketamine-Induced Apoptosis by Activating PI3K/Akt/Bcl-2 Signalling.
Numerous studies in rodents have indicated that exposure to ketamine during the period when synaptogenesis is highly active induces neurodegeneration. Thus, there is a growing need to develop strategies to prevent ketamine-induced brain injury in the developing brain. Oestradiol is a neuroactive steroid that prevents neuronal cell death in different experimental models by activating cell survival signals and inhibiting apoptotic signals. ⋯ Furthermore, we found that 17β-oestradiol not only induced phosphorylation of the PI3K substrate Akt, but also increased the expression of Bcl-2, which down-regulated ketamine-induced caspase-3 activity and inhibited neuronal apoptosis. These data demonstrate that 17β-oestradiol exerts a neuroprotective effect against ketamine-induced neuronal apoptosis by activating the PI3K/Akt/Bcl-2 signalling pathway. Therefore, 17β-oestradiol appears to be a promising agent in preventing or reversing ketamine's toxic effects on neurons at an early developmental stage.