During the analysis of Huntington’s disease, different doses of the drug ketamine were given to sheep. Hence, these doses have revealed new insights about the effect of anaesthetic on their brain. This effect can do pain-numbing and reduce dissociative effects.   

Ketamine Experiment:

The most astonishing result of this experiment was that when high doses of ketamine were given to the sheep, their brain activity started turning off at one stage. And, cortical activity showed that the brain of the sheep was instantly closing. 

This complete session of the cortical activity was never seen before. However, this session lasted for several minutes, and then again, the brain activity roused. 

So, Jenny Morton, a neurobiologist from the University of Cambridge, said that due to the high doses of ketamine, the sheep's brain got completely closed, and these results were never seen before. After a few minutes of delay, the brain again started functioning correctly. It was just like that the brain was switched off and on again.

Other Uses Of Ketamine:

In the present day, ketamine is still used to treat different problems, like depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and migraine as well. 

K-Hole:

It has also been revealed that when high doses of this drug are given, it starts working as a recreational drug. The purpose of this drug is to induce a solid dissociative and a catatonic state. But, this catatonic state is called the K-hole that is a state of oblivion or a near to death experience. 

However, Morton and his partner researcher Alister Nicol stated in their new study that the subjective results of this drug are:

• Sensation of floating

• Vivid illusions and dreams

• Wrapping of sense of time and space

• Alteration of mood state and body awareness

• Perceptual distortions

Furthermore, the study tells that giving a sufficiently high dose, understanding of both surroundings and interact with others will become completely impaired.

Three Distinctive Phases In Sheep:

Apart from the dose level, there were three different distinctive phases of activity observed on the sheep. These phases were:

• The first state can be called a state of sedation after being an anaesthetic.

• The second state was a period of dissociative consciousness in which there was no voluntary movement observed.

• Then, the last state was full alertness, although there was no voluntary movement observed. 

It was also observed that in the second state, the animal arose from sedation. But, there was an observed oscillatory state in the readings of the brain. The output of the entire cortex changed between bursts of high and low oscillation frequency.

Conclusive Remarks:

Initially, these were the significant findings of the ketamine experiment on sheep. The results of this experiment were so astonishing that researchers have never seen them before. Nevertheless, there is a lot of exploration still going on the result of ketamine on the human brain. This drug can be used for treating a lot of problems that are related to the brain.