Effects of isoflurane or propofol on postnatal hippocampal neurogenesis in young and aged rats

An increasing number of in vitro and in vivo studies suggest that anesthesia and surgery could be risk factors for later cognitive impairment in the young and aged brain. General anesthesia has been shown to impair spatial memory in rats and this performance is dependent on hippocampal function and postnatal hippocampal neurogenesis. Anesthetic induced alteration of one or more stages of postnatal hippocampal neurogenesis may in part explain this cognitive impairment following anesthesia. Three different populations of proliferating cells in the dentate gyrus (DG) were labeled with different thymidine analogs (EdU, IdU, and CldU) at 4, 8, and 21 days, respectively, in young (3-month-old) and aged (20-month-old) rats prior to a 3h exposure to isoflurane, control, propofol, or 10% intralipid. 24h following general anesthesia, brains were collected for analysis. The number of cells co-localized with neuronal differentiation and maturation labels with each of the thymidine analogs was quantified. In addition, new cell proliferation 24hr following anesthesia was assessed with anti-Ki67. The effect of anesthesia on astrocytes was also assessed with anti-S100β. Isoflurane or propofol did not affect new cell proliferation, as assessed by Ki67, in the DG of young or aged rats. However, propofol significantly decreased the number of differentiating neurons and increased the number of astrocytes in the DG of young, but not aged, rats. Isoflurane significantly decreased the number of maturing neurons and increased the number of astrocytes in the DG of aged, but not young, rats. Isoflurane and propofol anesthesia altered postnatal hippocampal neurogenesis in an age and agent dependent matter.