Sevoflurane postconditioning provides neuroprotection against brain hypoxia-ischemia in neonatal rats

Application of volatile anesthetics after brain ischemia provides neuroprotection in adult animals (anesthetic postconditioning). We tested whether postconditioning with sevoflurane, the most commonly used general anesthetic in pediatric anesthesia, reduced neonatal brain injury in rats. Seven-day-old Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to brain hypoxia-ischemia (HI). They were postconditioned with sevoflurane in the presence or absence of 5-hydroxydecanoic acid, a mitochondrial KATP channel inhibitor. Sevoflurane postconditioning dose-dependently reduced brain tissue loss observed 7 days after brain HI. This effect was induced by clinically relevant concentrations and abolished by 5-hydroxydecanoic acid. These results suggest that sevoflurane postconditioning protects neonatal brain against brain HI via mitochondrial KATP channels.