Effect of Propofol and Operative Trauma on Neurodevelopment and Cognitive Function of Developing Brain in Rats

Objective To investigate the effect of propofol and operative trauma on the neurodevelopment and cognitive function of the developing brain and its mechanism. Methods A total of 104 postnatal day 13 Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 4 groups:control group (treated by 7.5 mL/kg saline and sham surgery), propofol group (treated by 75 mg/kg propofol), surgery group (with abdominal surgery under local anesthesia) and propofol+surgery group (with abdominal surgery under local anesthesia plus 75 mg/kg propofol anesthesia). Thirteen rats from each group were randomly selected for detecting the content of TNF-αin the hippocampus and the expression levels of caspase-3 and c-fos in the brain. Morris Water Maze test was used to detect the cognitive ability of the other rats at 60 days old, after which TNF-αcontent in the hippocampus and caspase-3 and c-fos expressions in the brain were detected. Results In 13 day-old rats, TNF-αlevel and caspase-3 and c-fos expressions differed significantly between the surgery group and the other 3 groups (P<0.05) and were similar among the control group, propofol group and propofol+surgery group (P>0.05). In 60-day-old rats, Morris water maze test results, TNF-α level or expressions of caspase-3 and c-fos showed no significant differences among the 4 groups. Conclusion Abdominal surgery can induce inflammation in the hippocampus and neuroapoptosis in neonatal rats rather than adult rats. Single-dose propofol anesthesia does not significantly affect neurodevelopment of young rats, and can relieve central inflammatory reaction induced by surgical trauma.