Prophylactic Effects of Esketamine in Surgical Patients

Evidences have showing that esketamine has anti-inflammatory and therapeutic effects on depression and cardiac surgery. The investigators' preliminary results suggest that combined prophylactic and therapeutic use of esketamine could decrease the plasma levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines after LPS-induced endotoxemia. The investigators also found that combined prophylactic and therapeutic use of esketamine could attenuate systemic inflammation and inflammatory multi-organ injury in mice after CLP-induced lethal sepsis. Surgical trauma could elicit a marked inflammatory response with increased expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, as well as postoperative immunosuppression. However, it remains unclear whether combined prophylactic and therapeutic use of esketamine could improve postoperative immunosuppression and alleviates systemic inflammatory response. This project aims to study whether combined prophylactic and therapeutic use of esketamine could improve the decreased number of lymphocyte subsets and increased plasma pro-inflammatory cytokines.