title: Surgery plus anesthesia induces loss of attention in mice.
abstract: There is a need to develop animal models to study postoperative delirium. Inattention is one of the symptoms of delirium. Increases in the levels of α-synuclein and S100β have been reported to be associated with delirium. Therefore, we set out to determine the effects of surgery plus general anesthesia on the behavioral changes (including loss of attention) in mice and on the levels of α-synuclein and S100β in the brain tissues of these mice. C57BL/6J mice (2- to 8-months-old) had a simple laparotomy plus isoflurane anesthesia. The behavioral changes, including attention level and the speed of movements, were determined 12, 24, and 48 h after the surgery plus anesthesia in the mice. The levels of α-synuclein and S100β in the cortex of these mice following the surgery plus anesthesia were determined by Western blot analysis. We found that there was a loss of attention at 24, but not 12 or 48 h following the surgery plus anesthesia (49% ± 5 vs. 33% ± 2.9, P = 0.011, N = 12) in the mice without significantly affecting the speed of their movements. There were increases in the levels of total α-synuclein (139% ± 33.5 vs. 100% ± 13.7, P = 0.037, N = 6) and S100β (142% ± 7.7 vs. 100% ± 6, P = 0.002, N = 6) in the cortex of the mice 12 h following the surgery plus anesthesia. These findings suggested that the surgery plus isoflurane anesthesia might induce behavioral and biochemical/cellular changes associated with delirium. We could use the surgery plus anesthesia in mice to develop an animal model to study postoperative delirium.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia, Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University Nanjing, China ; Geriatric Anesthesia Research Unit, Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School Charlestown, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Quan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Geriatric Anesthesia Research Unit, Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School Charlestown, MA, USA ; Department of Anesthesia, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Mian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Geriatric Anesthesia Research Unit, Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School Charlestown, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Yuanlin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Geriatric Anesthesia Research Unit, Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School Charlestown, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Yiying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Urology Department, Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia, Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Divisions of General Medicine and Primary Care and Gerontology, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Edward R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Marcantonio
authors.affiliation: Geriatric Anesthesia Research Unit, Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School Charlestown, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Zhongcong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xie
keywords: S100β; anesthesia; attention; surgery; synuclein