In 1981, a startling article was published in Anesthesia& Analgesia: “Exposure to Halothane and Enflurane Affects Learning Function of Murine Progeny.” The study found that adolescent mice that had been exposed in utero to halothane or enflurane anesthesia had markedly impaired maze learning compared with unexposed controls. Decades before the discovery of epigenetics, the article even showed that, in some cases, impairments were also found in the next generation. The authors proposed further research to explore the relevance of their findings to anesthesia in humans. The article was, however, largely ignored and the authors’ proposal not pursued.
Recent Posts
- A Scoping Review of the Mechanisms Underlying Developmental Anesthetic Neurotoxicity
- 2025 Annual Meeting, presented by the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS) and the Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists (SOCCA), March 20 – 23, 2025, Honolulu, HI
- Exposure to Operative Anesthesia in Childhood and Subsequent Neurobehavioral Diagnoses: A Natural Experiment Using Appendectomy
- Long-term outcomes of early exposure to repeated general anaesthesia in children with cystic fibrosis (CF-GAIN): a multicentre, open-label, randomised controlled phase 4 trial. Claire Elizabeth Wainwright, et al. June 2024
- Columbia University Physician Scientist and SmartTots Investigator, Caleb Ing, MD, publishes new findings regarding prenatal exposure to general anesthesia and subsequent risk to the child.