Minerva anestesiologica
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Minerva anestesiologica · Jun 2011
Xenon exposure in the neonatal rat brain: effects on genes that regulate apoptosis.
In the developing rodent brain, exposure to volatile anesthetics causes widespread neuronal apoptosis in several regions of the brain. Increasing evidence points to a possible neuroprotective role for the anesthetic gas xenon, following neuronal injury. To address this gap in understanding, we explored the transcriptional consequences of xenon in the brains of postnatal day 7 (P7) rats exposed to xenon compared to those of air-breathing animals, with particular emphasis on the mRNA transcript levels of Akt and c-Jun N-terminal kinase kinase 1 (JNKK1), which are important for cell survival and the activation of extrinsic neuroapoptotic pathways, respectively. ⋯ The concomitant decrease in the Akt mRNA expression level and increase in the JNKK1 mRNA transcript level provide evidence that xenon has a neuroapoptotic effect in the developing rodent forebrain. Given these results, further study into the paradoxical neuroprotective and neuroapoptotic effects of xenon is warranted.
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Apneic oxygenation (AO) is applied during surgery and in intensive care units. Even with AO, apnea is associated with progressive hypoxemia, limiting the tolerable amount of time in AO. This experimental study evaluates the effects of a recruitment maneuver (RM) on oxygenation, CO2 retention, and survival times during prolonged apnea, supported or not supported with intratracheal apneic oxygenation. ⋯ RM prior to AO prolongs tolerance to apnea, probably by increasing the time before intolerable hypoxemia occurs, without a significant difference in PaCO2 levels.