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Using laboratory models to understand how ketamine abuse causes harm to the bladder

Simon Baker

• 26 September 2014
  6.45pm - 7pm

• York Medical Society (map)

• FREE admission
  No booking required

• Wheelchair accessible
  (through the garden)

Event details

Over the last 15 years ketamine has become increasingly popular as a recreational or “party” drug in the UK.  This is based in part on its low price and its ready availability in pure, unadulterated form.  In 2007, severe bladder damage was first associated with chronic ketamine abuse and since then a number of (predominantly young) patients have had to undergo surgical removal of the bladder to manage the unremitting pain.  It is not understood why or how ketamine specifically damages the bladder.  

In the Jack Birch Unit, we have developed laboratory models of human bladder tissue that can be used to understand drug/tissue interactions.  We have found that an effect of ketamine in the bladder is to destroy the urine-proofing lining of the bladder and this results in the growth of new nerves in the bladder wall; this may in part explain the severe pain felt by patients. In the laboratory, we have found that ketamine is directly toxic to bladder cells and that bladder cells attempt to defend themselves by breaking down the drug using specialised enzymes normally found in the liver.  So drop by to discover more about this fascinating research.

This is one of twelve thought-provoking short talks throughout the evening at York Medical Society on all things health-related by researchers from across eight different departments at the University of York. The talks are divided into three sessions over four hours, starting at 5pm and ending at 9.20pm, which are interspersed with refreshments and a chance to speak to the researchers, some of whom have been researching for years and some of whom are just at the start of their careers.