title: Early exposure to volatile anesthetics impairs long-term associative learning and recognition memory.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Anesthetic exposure early in life affects neural development and long-term cognitive function, but our understanding of the types of memory that are altered is incomplete. Specific cognitive tests in rodents that isolate different memory processes provide a useful approach for gaining insight into this issue.
  
  
  METHODS
  Postnatal day 7 (P7) rats were exposed to either desflurane or isoflurane at 1 Minimum Alveolar Concentration for 4 h. Acute neuronal death was assessed 12 h later in the thalamus, CA1-3 regions of hippocampus, and dentate gyrus. In separate behavioral experiments, beginning at P48, subjects were evaluated in a series of object recognition tests relying on associative learning, as well as social recognition.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Exposure to either anesthetic led to a significant increase in neuroapoptosis in each brain region. The extent of neuronal death did not differ between groups. Subjects were unaffected in simple tasks of novel object and object-location recognition. However, anesthetized animals from both groups were impaired in allocentric object-location memory and a more complex task requiring subjects to associate an object with its location and contextual setting. Isoflurane exposure led to additional impairment in object-context association and social memory.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Isoflurane and desflurane exposure during development result in deficits in tasks relying on associative learning and recognition memory. Isoflurane may potentially cause worse impairment than desflurane.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, Unites States of America.
authors.forename: Bradley H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, Unites States of America.
authors.forename: John Thomas
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, Unites States of America.
authors.forename: Obhi
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hazarika
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Intensive Care, University Hospital of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Laszlo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vutskits
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, Unites States of America.
authors.forename: Jeffrey W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Sall
mesh_terms: D018685:Anesthetics, Inhalation / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning / Q000187:drug effects*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D000077335:Desflurane; D007530:Isoflurane / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000187:drug effects*; D012919:Social Behavior
chemical_list: D018685:Anesthetics, Inhalation; D000077335:Desflurane; D007530:Isoflurane