title: Neonatal anesthetic neurotoxicity: Insight into the molecular mechanisms of long-term neurocognitive deficits.
abstract: Mounting animal studies have demonstrated that almost all the clinically used general anesthetics could induce widespread neuroapoptosis in the immature brain. Alarmingly, some published findings have reported long-term neurocognitive deficits in response to early anesthesia exposure which deeply stresses the potential seriousness of developmental anesthetic neurotoxicity. However, the connection between anesthesia induced neuroapoptosis and subsequent neurocognitive deficits remains controversial. It should be noted that developmental anesthesia related neurotoxicity is not limited to neuroapoptosis. Early anesthesia exposure caused transient suppression of neurogenesis, ultrastructural abnormalities in synapse and alteration in the development of neuronal networks also could contribute to the long-term neurocognitive dysfunction. Understanding the mechanisms of developmental anesthetic neurotoxicity, especially by which anesthesia impairs brain function months after exposure, may lead to development of rational preventive and therapeutic strategies. The focus of present review is on some of those potential mechanisms that have been proposed for anesthesia induced cognitive decline.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, The Second People's Hospital of Yibin, Yibin 644000, Sichuan, PR China. Electronic address: ybanesthesia@sina.com.
authors.forename: Deshui
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Nanchong Central Hospital, The Second Clinical College of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong 637000, Sichuan, PR China.
authors.forename: Linji
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Nanchong Central Hospital, The Second Clinical College of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong 637000, Sichuan, PR China.
authors.forename: Weiguo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yuan
mesh_terms: D000777:Anesthetics / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000633:toxicity; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D020258:Neurotoxicity Syndromes / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000777:Anesthetics
keywords: Anesthesia; Neuroapoptosis; Neurocognitive deficit; Neurogenesis; Neurotoxicity; Synapse