FIG. 5.

Single-cell gel electrophoresis (Comet) assay for rat primary neuronal cells. A marked increase in the number of cells with DNA strand breaks (tails) was apparent in the cultures exposed to ketamine (B) compared with control cultures (A). Quantitative analysis of the percent of cells exhibiting DNA strand breaks indicated a significant increase in DNA damage in ketamine-exposed neurons, but not in ketamine-exposed cells that were also treated with l-carnitine or in cells treated with l-carnitine alone. Experiments were repeated independently three times. Data are presented as means ± SD. *p < 0.05 was considered significant.