Latest Updates from the IARS Annual Meeting, March 21-24, Honolulu, HI
Video Presentation
Neurotoxicity of Anesthetics in the Developing Brain – A Translational Update
Recorded live on March 23 at the IARS Annual Meeting in Honolulu, HI.
Panelists: Ansgar Brambrink, MD, PhD; Andreas W. Loepke, MD, PhD; Vesna Jevtovic-Todorovic, MD, PhD, MBA; Andrew Davidson, MBBS, MD, FANZCA
SmartTots-Related Abstract Judged Best of Meeting
Academic Performance After Anesthesia and Surgery During Childhood: A Large-Scale Nation-Wide Study
Pia Glatz, MD, R. H. Sandin, N. L. Pedersen, A. E. Bonamy, L. I. Eriksson, F. N. Granath
Research News & Updates
Anesthetic neurotoxicity–clinical implications of animal models.
The FDA collaboration SmartTots recommends undertaking large-scale clinical studies and avoiding nonurgent surgical procedures requiring anesthesia in children younger than 3 years of age. Read more
Neurodevelopment of children exposed to anesthesia: Design of the Mayo Anesthesia Safety in Kids (MASK) study
The expected products of this research will be a detailed phenotype of possible anesthetic-associated neurotoxicity in humans, utilizing a robust patient database and neuropsychological testing battery, and the first comparison of effects of anesthetic exposure in children and nonhuman primates performing nearly identical behavioral tasks. Read more
Is There Evidence for Long-Term Neurocognitive Effects of Sedatives
Given the public health implications of anesthetic and sedative drugs on the developing brain, this chapter will discuss relevance of these issues in the context of the management of sedation in pediatric patients undergoing diagnostic and painful procedures. Read more
A comparison of functional magnetic resonance imaging findings in children with and without a history of early exposure to general anesthesia
fMRI appears to be a useful tool in evaluating the long-term effects of early exposure to general anesthesia. Read more
Dexamethasone but not the equivalent doses of hydrocortisone induces neurotoxicity in neonatal rat brain.
Hydrocortisone is probably safer to use than dexamethasone in the immediate postnatal period in neonatal rats. Cautious extrapolation of these findings to human premature infants is required. Read more
Altered Metabolomic Profiles May Be Associated with Sevoflurane-Induced Neurotoxicity in Neonatal Rats.
Our data indicate that sevoflurane anesthesia causes significant oxidative stress, neuroapoptosis, and cellular ultrastructure damage, which is associated with altered brain metabotype in the neonatal rat. Read more
Hyperexcitability of Rat Thalamocortical Networks after Exposure to General Anesthesia during Brain Development
Drugs that regulate thalamic excitability may improve the safety of GAs used during early brain development. Read more
Repeated Exposure to Ketamine-Xylazine during Early Development Impairs Motor Learning-dependent Dendritic Spine Plasticity in Adulthood
Repeated exposures to ketamine-xylazine during early development impair motor learning and learning-dependent dendritic spine plasticity later in life. Read more
Neuroprotective effects of pterostilbene against isoflurane-induced apoptosis through regulating the JNK and PI3K/Akt pathway in neonatal rats
Observations suggest that pterostilbene was able to effectively reduce isoflurane-induced neurodegeneration. Read more
Effect of apoptosis in neural stem cells treated with sevoflurane
Sevoflurane can inhibit the central nervous system by activating γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a known inhibitory neurotransmitter in central nervous system. The result is apoptosis of neural stem cells, thus leading to the NSCs degeneration. Read more
Molecular pathways of mitochondrial dysfunctions: Possible cause of cell death in anesthesia-induced developmental neurotoxicity.
The molecular processes of mitochondrial dysfunction should be understood to develop novel therapeutic strategies that can prevent anesthesia-induced neurotoxicity and provide neuroprotection against developmental central nervous system. Read more
Propofol inhibits proliferation and induces neuroapoptosis of hippocampal neurons in vitro via downregulation of NF-κB p65 and Bcl-2 and upregulation of caspase-3
These results indicated that downregulation of NF-κB p65 and Bcl-2 likely led to the caspase-3 activation, triggered apoptosis and inhibited the neuronal growth and proliferation that we have observed in our in vitro systems. Read more
Pre-treatment with a Xingnaojing preparation ameliorates sevoflurane-induced neuroapoptosis in the infant rat striatum.
These data suggest that the standardized Chinese herbal medicine XNJ has an antiapoptotic effect against sevofluraneinduced cell loss in the striatum. It thus holds promise as a safe and effective neuroprotective agent. Read more