• Jinyang Liu, Lie Yang, Daisy Lin, James E Cottrell, and Ira S Kass.
• From the Department of Anesthesiology (J.L., D.L., J.E.C., I.S.K.), Department of Physiology and Pharmacology (L.Y., D.L., I.S.K.), and Robert F. Furchgott Center for Neural and Behavioral Science (I.S.K.), State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York.
• Anesthesiology. 2018 Mar 1; 128 (3): 555-563.

BackgroundThis study tests the hypothesis that sevoflurane blocks long-term potentiation only if it is present during the high-frequency stimulation that induces long-term potentiation.MethodsLong-term potentiation, an electrophysiologic correlate of memory, was induced by high-frequency stimulation and measured as a persistent increase in the field excitatory postsynaptic potential slope in the CA1 region.ResultsLong-term potentiation was induced in the no sevoflurane group (171 ± 58% vs. 96 ± 11%; n = 13, mean ± SD); when sevoflurane (4%) was present during the high-frequency stimulation, long-term potentiation was blocked (92 ± 22% vs. 99 ± 7%, n = 6). While sevoflurane reduced the size of the field excitatory postsynaptic potential to single test stimuli by 59 ± 17%, it did not significantly reduce the size of the field excitatory postsynaptic potentials during the 100 Hz high-frequency stimulation. If sevoflurane was removed from the artificial cerebrospinal fluid superfusing the slices 10 min before the high-frequency stimulation, then long-term potentiation was induced (185 ± 48%, n = 7); this was not different from long-term potentiation in the no sevoflurane slices (171 ± 58). Sevoflurane before, but not during, ⊖-burst stimulation, a physiologic stimulus, did not block the induction of long-term potentiation (151 ± 37% vs. 161 ± 34%, n = 7).ConclusionsSevoflurane blocks long-term potentiation formation if present during the high-frequency stimulation; this blockage of long-term potentiation does not persist if sevoflurane is discontinued before the high-frequency stimulation. These results may explain why short periods of insufficient sevoflurane anesthesia may lead to recall of painful or traumatic events during surgery.

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