Journal of molecular neuroscience : MN
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Isoflurane can elicit cognitive impairment. However, the pathogenesis in the brain remains inconclusive. The present study investigated the mechanism of glutamate neurotoxicity in adolescent male rats that underwent postnatal isoflurane exposure and the role of sodium butyrate (NaB) in cognitive impairment induced by isoflurane exposure. ⋯ Treatment with NaB not only restored the histone acetylation of the GLT-1 and mGLuR1/5 promoter regions and glutamate excitatory neurotoxicity in hippocampal neurons, but also improved cognitive impairment in vivo. Moreover, NaB may be a potential therapeutic drug for cognitive impairment caused by isoflurane exposure. These results suggest that postnatal isoflurane exposure contributes to cognitive impairment via decreasing histone acetylation of glutamatergic systems in the hippocampus of adolescent rats.