title: Comparisons of the effects of anesthesia and stress on release of tumor necrosis factor-alpha, leptin, and nitric oxide in adult male rats.
abstract: Bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulates massive release of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) together with nitric oxide (NO) and a lessor release of leptin. We hypothesized that other types of stress such as that of surgery might also release these cytokines and NO. Adult male rats were anesthetized with ketamine/acepromazine/xylazine anesthesia (90 + 2 + 6 mg/ml, respectively) and an external jugular catheter was inserted for removal of blood samples (0.6 ml) at various times postoperatively. Plasma TNF-alpha was almost undetectable in decapitated rats and was near zero immediately following the placement of the jugular catheter (time zero [t0]). As the rats awakened from anesthesia, there was a rise in TNF-alpha at 30 min that peaked at 2 hr with a 400-fold increase and then precipitously declined 40-fold to a level still greater than zero at 3 hr. At 6 hr on the following morning, TNF-alpha values were near zero, but following connection of tubing and withdrawal of the initial blood sample, there was a 100-fold increase 1 hr later, followed by a decline over the next 3 hr. In contrast, plasma [NO/NO2] from decapitated rats was 117 microM. Values at tO were decreased and plummeted 4-fold within 30 min, then rose slightly in the ensuing 3 hr. At 6 hr on the next day [NO3/NO2] values were lower than at tO and declined gradually during the next 4 hr. Leptin gradually declined from pre-operative concentrations, reaching a minimum at 3 hr and its concentration was unaffected by the bleeding stress of the second day. We conclude that release of TNF-alpha, [NO3/NO2], and leptin are neurally controlled since plasma levels of all three declined as a result of anesthesia. TNF-alpha secretion was remarkably stress responsive, whereas NO release appeared to be suppressed by the combined operative and bleeding stress, and leptin was stress unresponsive.
authors.affiliation: Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge 70808-4124, USA.
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Mastronardi
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: McCann
mesh_terms: D000075:Acepromazine; D000768:Anesthesia, General; D000818:Animals; D001143:Arousal; D001800:Blood Specimen Collection; D007649:Ketamine; D020738:Leptin / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D009566:Nitrates / Q000097:blood; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000097:blood*; D009573:Nitrites / Q000097:blood; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000097:blood* / Q000209:etiology; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative; D013997:Time Factors; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000032:analysis*; D014991:Xylazine
chemical_list: D020738:Leptin; D009566:Nitrates; D009573:Nitrites; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D014991:Xylazine; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D000075:Acepromazine; D007649:Ketamine