Journal of neuroimmune pharmacology : the official journal of the Society on NeuroImmune Pharmacology
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J Neuroimmune Pharmacol · Mar 2015
The choice of general anesthetics may not affect neuroinflammation and impairment of learning and memory after surgery in elderly rats.
Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) often occurs in elderly patients and may involve neuroinflammation. This study was to determine whether anesthetic choice (intravenous vs. volatile anesthetics) affects cognitive impairment and neuroinflammation in elderly rat. Total 54 twenty-month old male Fischer 344 rats were assigned randomly to control, right carotid exposure under propofol-buprenorphine or isoflurane-buprenorphine anesthesia groups. ⋯ Surgery and anesthesia increased IL-1β and Iba-1 but did not affect tau phosphorylated at S199/202 and S396 in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus. Our results suggest that surgery under general anesthesia induces neuroinflammation and cognitive impairment. Anesthetic choice may not be a significant modifiable factor for these effects.