Effects of ketamine on oxidative stress and pyroptosis in liver of developing rats

To investigate the effect of ketamine on oxidative stress and pyroptosis in liver of developing rats, seven-day-old SD rats were continuously injected with ketamine, and the control group was injected with normal saline, the histopathological changes, liver function indices, levels of oxidative stress and the contents of inflammatory cytokines in liver were detected; Western blot and qPCR were used to detect the expression of pyroptosis-related protein and mRNA. It was observed that the ketamine group had damaged liver structure, decreased liver function indices, increased levels of oxidative stress and inflammatory cytokines, and upregulated expression levels of pyroptosis（NLRP3,ASC, caspase-1 and GSDMD proteins and mRNA） as compared with the control group. The results indicated that oxidative stress and pyroptosis were involved in ketamine-induced liver injury, and provided a theoretical basis and reference for the clinical application of ketamine in veterinary medicine and the mechanism of liver injury.