PROPOFOL INDUCES NEUROAPOPTOSIS IN THE DEVELOPING MOUSE BRAIN

Worldwide every year, anesthetics are used §in millions of neonates and infants during surgical §procedures and imaging studies, moreover hundreds of §pregnant women receive surgery for no-pregnancy §related problems. Advances in this field have §resulted in an increased complexity, duration, and §number of anesthesia procedures. A deep difference §however exists between developing and adult neurons. §During normal CNS development, an excess of neurons §is produced and most of them have to die for the §correct synaptic network formation. In this case, §death is the default; immature neurons are competent §to die and, in the absence of life-signals (trophic §supports), they achieve this target by apoptosis, §the active programmed-cell-death pathway. Adult §neurons indeed, need to survive for the lifetime of §the organism, and their premature death can cause §irreversible functional deficits.Recent findings §demonstrate that the transient exposure to several §classes of drugs, including the intravenous §anesthetic propofol, during the brain growth spurt §period, triggers widespread and dose-dependent §apoptosis in the developing brain.