The effect of midazolam and sevoflurane anaesthesia on the permeability of the blood-brain barrier
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1
Monash University, Clayton, Australia, Australia
The current study is the first to examine whether the anaesthetics midazolam and sevoflurane increase the permeability of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Twenty-five male C57/Bl6J mice (aged 8-10 weeks) were divided into five conditions: no-treatment control (n=5), 10 minutes of midazolam anaesthesia (n=5), 10 minutes of sevoflurane anaesthesia (n=5), 1 hour of sevoflurane anaesthesia (n=5) and a positive control, administered mannitol (n=5). Subjects were transcardially perfused using a fluorescent dye, Evans Blue, conjugated to bovine serum albumin. Brains were dissected, coronally sectioned and imaged with epifluroescence microscopy and the spatial distribution of BBB permeability was quantified using densitometric analysis. The results demonstrated a significant increase in BBB permeability in several brain regions, particularly in the hypothalamus (p<.05), corpus callosum (p<.05) and amygdala (p<.01), in all anaesthetic groups. For the positive-control condition, a significant increase in BBB permeability was recorded in all brain regions. Significant increases in permeability were also observed within the hippocampus following 10 minutes of sevoflurane anaesthesia (p<.05) and within the cerebral cortex following 1 hour of sevoflurane anaesthesia (p<.05). These results demonstrate that midazolam and sevoflurane increase BBB permeability in a region-specific manner. These findings are relevant to clinical practice where a temporary decline in cognitive function is often observed following recovery from anaesthesia. It is speculated that serum proteins which leak across a compromised BBB may provoke a neuroinflammatory response, thus perturbing cognition.
Keywords:
anaesthesia,
Anesthesia,
Blood-Brain Barrier,
bovine serum albumin,
densitometric analysis,
Evans-blue,
Mannitol,
Midazolam,
Permeability,
post-operative cognitive dysfunction,
sevoflurane,
transcardial perfusion
Conference:
ACNS-2012 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 29 Nov - 2 Dec, 2012.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Other
Citation:
Pinar
A and
Robinson
SR
(2012). The effect of midazolam and sevoflurane anaesthesia on the permeability of the blood-brain barrier.
Conference Abstract:
ACNS-2012 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2012.208.00098
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Received:
26 Oct 2012;
Published Online:
07 Nov 2012.
*
Correspondence:
Mr. Ari Pinar, Monash University, Clayton, Australia, Melbourne, Australia, ari.pinar@monash.edu
Prof. Stephen R Robinson, Monash University, Clayton, Australia, Melbourne, Australia, steve.robinson@monash.edu