The Effects of Neonatal Anaesthesia in the Adult Rat Behaviour

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event The Effects of Neonatal Anaesthesia in the Adult Rat Behaviour Andreia Vilas-Boas1, Ana Paula-Silva1, Jose Miguel-Pego1* and Nuno Sousa1 1 School of Health Sciences, University of Minho, Life and Health Sciences Research Institute, Portugal Ketamine is a general anaesthetic drug widely used in paediatric patients that exerts its effects through the antagonism of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptors. Along with other anaesthetic agents, ketamine exposure has been considered safe for decades. However, evidence from animal models demonstrates that NMDA receptors antagonism can induce disseminated neurodegeneration in the brain, especially during the neonatal period. In rodents, the window of major vulnerability to ketamine coincides with the developmental period of synaptogenesis that extends until the first three weeks of postnatal life; the corresponding human developmental period occurs until the third year of life. Despite common belief that neuronal loss may lead to persistent behavioural impairments, it is not clear if early life exposure to ketamine will produce permanent changes. To test this hypothesis, we used an animal model to clarify the long-term effects of neonatal ketamine exposure. Rat pups injected with ketamine (7x20mg/kg) or saline on postnatal day 7 were monitored during the neonatal period to assess neurodevelopment through a series of neurological reflexes acquisition. During adulthood these animals were tested for anxiety-like [elevated-plus maze (EPM)] and depressive-like behaviour [forced swimming test (FST)], locomotor activity [open field (OF)] and learning and memory (morris water maze).Ketamine-treated group exhibited a decreased depressive-like behaviour on FST, suggesting that acute neonatal exposure to this agent might lead to a less depressive phenotype (without clear prejudice in other brain functions). To clarify these results, a second set of animals was exposed to an experimental model of depression [chronic mild stress (CMS)] at 3 months of age. These animals were then tested for locomotor activity (OF), anxiety-like (EPM) and depressive-like behaviour [FST and sucrose preference test (SPT)]. Interestingly, ketamine injected rats submitted to CMS still exhibited a less depressive-like behaviour on FST than saline rats exposed to CMS, further suggesting ketamine Conference: 11th Meeting of the Portuguese Society for Neuroscience, Braga, Portugal, 4 Jun - 6 Jun, 2009. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Neurodegenerative Disorders Citation: Vilas-Boas A, Paula-Silva A, Miguel-Pego J and Sousa N (2009). The Effects of Neonatal Anaesthesia in the Adult Rat Behaviour. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: 11th Meeting of the Portuguese Society for Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.01.2009.11.073 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 07 Aug 2009; Published Online: 07 Aug 2009. * Correspondence: Jose Miguel-Pego, School of Health Sciences, University of Minho, Life and Health Sciences Research Institute, Braga, Portugal, jmpego@med.uminho.pt Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Andreia Vilas-Boas Ana Paula-Silva Jose Miguel-Pego Nuno Sousa Google Andreia Vilas-Boas Ana Paula-Silva Jose Miguel-Pego Nuno Sousa Google Scholar Andreia Vilas-Boas Ana Paula-Silva Jose Miguel-Pego Nuno Sousa PubMed Andreia Vilas-Boas Ana Paula-Silva Jose Miguel-Pego Nuno Sousa Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.