Medical researchers from the University and Washington University in St. Louis have determined that common pediatric anesthetics can cause severe brain damage and memory defects in newborn rats.
In experiments published in the Feb. 1 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers exposed seven-day old rats to a chemical combination of midazolam, nitrous oxide and isoflurane, a common concert of anesthetic drugs. After an exposure period of six hours, the rats were divided into three groups tested at different intervals of time, all of which showed extensive damage.
"During synaptogenesis, the growth period of the brain, the infant rats showed significant susceptibility to the anesthetics," said Vesna Jevtovic-Todorovic, associate professor of anesthesiology at the University Medical School, explaining damage to the first test group.
"The brain cells initiated a suicide response to the compounds," he said.
Though researchers said they can only guess at the effects of these anesthetics on humans, concerns about the safety of these drugs persist.
Dr. John W. Olney, professor of psychiatry at Washington University and a research team member, warned of potentially serious effects on children.
"Neonatal surgery that is not absolutely necessary should be postponed to a later date," Olney said.
Synaptogenosis in humans begins in the third trimester of pregnancy and extends until age three. Researchers speculate that peak brain susceptibility to anesthetics could last until age one.
Jevtovic-Todorovic led a team of researchers in an effort to determine the extent of damage caused by the drugs.
The suicide response of the brain cells is a natural, healthy reaction when synapses fail to network together, limiting the amount of damage to the brain by allowing new cells to take their place. The anesthetic induces this reaction unnaturally.
Another group of adolescent rats exhibited serious learning and memory defects when tested at 30 days old.
"We used a radial arm maze to determine the memory ability of the rats, the maze consisted of eight arms with plexiglass doors to interrupt the rats path to a food pellet," said Dr. David F. Wozniak, research associate professor of psychiatry at Washington University. "The exposed rats could not remember the way to the food when placed in the maze again
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