Depressive effect of isoflurane anesthesia on motor evoked potentials

The influence of the volatile anesthetic isoflurane (Forane) on motor evoked potentials was examined in rats. To record motor evoked potentials, single-shock electrical stimulation was delivered to the forelimb representation of the motor cortex. This resulted in elicitation of a compound muscle action potential from the contralateral extensor muscles. The effect of isoflurane was examined at various concentrations ranging from 0.2 to 1.5%. With increasing concentrations of isoflurane there was a progressive increase in onset latency of the compound muscle action potential and a decrease in peak-to-peak amplitude and duration. Latencies were significantly increased over baseline values for concentrations of isoflurane from 0.5 to 1.5% (P values were 0.001 to 0.007). For the amplitude and the duration, responses at 0.5 to 1.5% isoflurane were significantly lower than baseline (P values were 0.001 to 0.007). We conclude that isoflurane anesthesia significantly changes the muscle response evoked by motor cortex stimulation in experimental animals.