Volatile and Intravenous Anesthesia Alter Rat Liver Proteins: Proteomic Time Course Analysis of Rat Liver Proteins

Background: Our previous microarray study showed that sevoflurane anesthesia affects the expression of rat genes in multiple organs including the liver. In this study, we investigated whether liver protein expression was altered after propofol, sevoflurane, or isoflurane anesthesia. We also investigated differences in the time course of each drug 24 and 72 h after anesthesia. Methods: Rats were randomly assigned to four groups (non-anesthetized group and three groups anesthetized at each time point, n = 6 per group). A venous catheter was inserted into the caudal vein of all rats. Rats were anesthetized with each agent for 6 h, and the liver was obtained immediately after anesthesia. Proteomic analysis was performed. Results: About 4200 spots in each gel were discriminated, and at least 2619 spots were matched. Using LC-MS/MS, we identified 47 spots for propofol, 45 spots for sevoflurane, and 21 spots for isoflurane that were differentially expressed (p < 0.05) 0 h after anesthesia. The numbers of altered proteins were 14 and 19 in the isoflurane and sevoflurane groups, respectively, 72 h after anesthesia, but alterations in 40 proteins were seen in the propofol group 72 h after anesthesia. Conclusion: Volatile and intravenous anesthetics affected protein expression in the liver. Alterations were different for each drug, with isoflurane showing fewer altered proteins 0 h after anesthesia than the other two drugs. The time courses of those proteins were also different between individual anesthetics, suggesting fewer alterations in rat liver protein expression with volatile anesthetics than with propofol.