Early Exposure to Common Anesthetic Agents Causes Widespread Neurodegeneration in the Developing Rat Brain and Persistent Learning Deficits

Recently it was demonstrated that exposure of the developing brain during the period of synaptogenesis to drugs that block NMDA glutamate receptors or drugs that potentiate GABA(A) receptors can trigger widespread apoptotic neurodegeneration. All currently used general anesthetic agents have either NMDA receptor-blocking or GABA(A) receptor-enhancing properties. To induce or maintain a surgical plane of anesthesia, it is common practice in pediatric or obstetrical medicine to use agents from these two classes in combination. Therefore, the question arises whether this practice entails significant risk of inducing apoptotic neurodegeneration in the developing human brain. To begin to address this problem, we…

• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Awards: HD 37100, DA 05072, AG 11355