Influence of propofol on hippocampus in developing brain: an experimental study

Abstract

Anesthetic neurotoxicity and intraoperative cerebral neuroprotectioanis one of the important issues in modern anesthesiology.General anesthesia, in addition to its hypnotic effect, is consideredto cause postoperative cognitive dysfunction as a manifestation ofencephalopathy. Narcosis based on propofol is a gold standard oftotal intravenous anesthesia and is frequently used for surgery inpatients of various ages. This experimental study investigates theeffects of propofol on neuronal population in hippocampus ofimmature rats. In propofol-anesthezied rats within 30 min of exposition,a two-fold increase of altered hippocampal neurons wasdetected compared to control animals, however no neuronal celldeath was observed. Intraoperative use of ethylmethylhydroxypyridinesuccinate ameliorates propofol-induced neuronal damagethat proves a neuroprotective effect of the drug tested.

Keywords

• propofol
• hippocampus
• neuronal population
• intraoperative cerebroprotection
• ethylmethylhydroxypyridine succinate