title: Aspartic acid in the hippocampus: a biomarker for postoperative cognitive dysfunction.
abstract: This study established an aged rat model of cognitive dysfunction using anesthesia with 2% isoflurane and 80% oxygen for 2 hours. Twenty-four hours later, Y-maze test results showed that isoflurane significantly impaired cognitive function in aged rats. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry results showed that isoflurane also significantly increased the levels of N,N-diethylacetamide, n-ethylacetamide, aspartic acid, malic acid and arabinonic acid in the hippocampus of isoflurane-treated rats. Moreover, aspartic acid, N,N-diethylacetamide, n-ethylacetamide and malic acid concentration was positively correlated with the degree of cognitive dysfunction in the isoflurane-treated rats. It is evident that hippocampal metabolite changes are involved in the formation of cognitive dysfunction after isoflurane anesthesia. To further verify these results, this study cultured hippocampal neurons in vitro, which were then treated with aspartic acid (100 μmol/L). Results suggested that aspartic acid concentration in the hippocampus may be a biomarker for predicting the occurrence and disease progress of cognitive dysfunction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia, Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China.
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia, Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China.
authors.forename: Jianbin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia, Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China.
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia, Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China.
authors.forename: Zhonghua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia, Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China.
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ouyang
keywords: NSFC grant; anesthesia; aspartic acid; brain impairment; gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; hippocampal metabolites; isoflurane; metabonomics; nerve regeneration; neural regeneration; postoperative cognitive dysfunction