Neuroscience letters
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Neuroscience letters · May 1997
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialLocal treatment with the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist ketamine, inhibit development of secondary hyperalgesia in man by a peripheral action.
Due to the recent discovery of peripheral N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) (and other glutamate) receptors in animal studies, the NMDA receptor antagonist, ketamine (0.83 mg/ml, 6 ml) or saline was injected s.c. preinjury in 10 healthy volunteers, to study the effect on burn-induced primary and secondary hyperalgesia. On the saline treated leg, all subjects developed primary hyperalgesia and secondary hyperalgesia. ⋯ When saline was injected in the contralateral leg treated with ketamine 1 week previously (n = 6), no zone of secondary hyperalgesia was developed. In contrast, subjects (n = 3) treated with ketamine 2 weeks before, reported development of secondary hyperalgesia following saline, a preliminary indication of a long-lasting peripheral action of ketamine.