Neonatal Propofol and Etomidate Exposure Enhance Inhibitory Synaptic Transmission in Hippocampal Cornus Ammonis 1 Pyramidal Neurons.
BACKGROUND
Propofol and etomidate are the most important intravenous general anesthetics in the current clinical use and that mediate gamma-aminobutyric acid's (GABAergic) synaptic transmission. However, their long-term effects on GABAergic synaptic transmission induced by neonatal propofol or etomidate exposure remain unclear. We investigated the long-term GABAergic neurotransmission alterations, following neonatal propofol and etomidate administration.


METHODS
Sprague-Dawley rat pups at postnatal days 4-6 were underwent 6-h-long propofol-induced or 5-h-long etomidate-induced anesthesia. We performed whole-cell patch-clamp recording from pyramidal cells in the cornus ammonis 1 area of acute hippocampal slices of postnatal 80-90 days. Spontaneous and miniature inhibitory GABAergic currents (spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents [sIPSCs] and miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents [mIPSCs]) and their kinetic characters were measured. The glutamatergic tonic effect on inhibitory transmission and the effect of bumetanide on neonatal propofol exposure were also examined.


RESULTS
Neonatal propofol exposure significantly increased the frequency of mIPSCs (from 1.87 ± 0.35 Hz to 3.43 ± 0.51 Hz, P< 0.05) and did not affect the amplitude of mIPSCs and sIPSCs. Both propofol and etomidate slowed the decay time of mIPSCs kinetics (168.39 ± 27.91 ms and 267.02 ± 100.08 ms vs. 68.18 ± 12.43 ms; P< 0.05). Bumetanide significantly blocked the frequency increase and reversed the kinetic alteration of mIPSCs induced by neonatal propofol exposure (3.01 ± 0.45 Hz and 94.30 ± 32.56 ms).


CONCLUSIONS
Neonatal propofol and etomidate exposure has long-term effects on inhibitory GABAergic transmission. Propofol might act at pre- and post-synaptic GABA receptor A (GABAA) receptors within GABAergic synapses and impairs the glutamatergic tonic input to GABAergic synapses; etomidate might act at the postsynaptic site.
Department of Anesthesiology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; Department of Anesthesiology, The People's Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450003, China, .
Jia-Qiang
JQ
Zhang
Department of Neurobiology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27106, USA.
Wan-Ying
WY
Xu
Department of Anesthesiology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
Chang-Qing
CQ
Xu
D000818:Animals; D056547:CA1 Region, Hippocampal / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D004594:Electrophysiology; D005045:Etomidate / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D015742:Propofol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D011963:Receptors, GABA-A / Q000378:metabolism; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000187:drug effects*; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000378:metabolism
D011963:Receptors, GABA-A; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid; D015742:Propofol; D005045:Etomidate