General anesthetics and β-amyloid protein.
With roughly 234 million people undergoing surgery with anesthesia each year worldwide, it is important to determine whether commonly used anesthetics can induce any neurotoxicity. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of age-related dementia, and a rapidly growing health problem. Several studies suggest that anesthesia could be associated with the development of AD. Moreover, studies in cultured cells and animals show that commonly used inhalation anesthetics may induce changes consistent with AD neuropathogenesis, e.g., β-amyloid protein accumulation. Therefore, in this mini review, we focus on the recent research investigating the effects of commonly used anesthetics including isoflurane, sevoflurane, desflurane, nitrous oxide, and propofol, on Aβ accumulation in vitro and in vivo. We further discuss the future direction of the research determining the effects of anesthetics on β-amyloid protein accumulation.
Geriatric Anesthesia Research Unit, Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 149 13th Street, Room 4310, Charlestown, MA 02129, United States. Electronic address: zxie@partners.org.
Zhongcong
Z
Xie
Zhipeng
Z
Xu
D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000378:metabolism*; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000378:metabolism*; D018681:Anesthetics, General / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans
D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D018681:Anesthetics, General