FDA Science Board Meets
The FDA Science Board met on November 19 to review the existing nonclinical and clinical data related to the use and potential toxicity of anesthetics and sedation drugs in the pediatric population.
Anesthesia-related neurotoxicity and the developing animal brain is not a significant problem in children.
This paper reviews some of the preclinical background behind anesthesia-related neurotoxicity but focuses mainly on the human studies. It concludes that the human studies performed so far have been unable to confirm the animal data. A single brief anesthetic seems safe in infants. Multiple anesthetic and surgical exposures on the other hand are different, but this may be due to reasons other than the anesthetics. Read more
Are Caudal Blocks for Pain Control Safe in Children? An Analysis of 18,650 Caudal Blocks from the Pediatric Regional Anesthesia Network (PRAN) Database.
Safety concerns should not be a barrier to the use of caudal blocks in children assuming an appropriate selection of local anesthetic dosage. Read more
Sevoflurane induces tau phosphorylation and glycogen synthase kinase 3β activation in young mice.
These data suggested that sevoflurane induced Tau phosphorylation, glycogen synthase kinase 3β activation, increase in interleukin-6 and reduction in postsynaptic density protein-95 levels in hippocampus of young mice, and cognitive impairment in the mice. Read more
Vitamin C Attenuates Isoflurane-Induced Caspase-3 Activation and Cognitive Impairment
These results suggest that Vitamin C attenuated the isoflurane-induced caspase-3 activation and cognitive impairment by inhibiting the isoflurane-induced oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and reduction in ATP levels. Read more
Ketamine Affects the Neurogenesis of Rat Fetal Neural Stem Progenitor Cells via the PI3K/Akt-p27 Signaling Pathway.
The inhibition of PI3K/Akt-p27 signaling may be involved in ketamine-induced neurotoxicity in the developing brain, whereas excitatory NMDA receptor activation may reverse these effects. Read more