Influence of propofol on hippocampus in developing brain: an experimental study

Anesthetic neurotoxicity and intraoperative cerebral neuroprotectioan is one of the important issues in modern anesthesiology. General anesthesia, in addition to its hypnotic effect, is considered to cause postoperative cognitive dysfunction as a manifestation of encephalopathy. Narcosis based on propofol is a “gold standard” of total intravenous anesthesia and is frequently used for surgery in patients of various ages. This experimental study investigates the effects of propofol on neuronal population in hippocampus of immature rats. In propofol-anesthezied rats within 30 min of exposition, a two-fold increase of altered hippocampal neurons was detected compared to control animals, however no neuronal cell death was observed. Intraoperative use of ethylmethylhydroxypyridine succinate ameliorates propofol-induced neuronal damagethat proves a neuroprotective effect of the drug tested.