Sex differences in neurodevelopmental abnormalities caused by early-life anaesthesia exposure: a narrative review. Br J Anaesth 2020 Mar;124(3):e81-e91
Date
01/26/2020Pubmed ID
31980157Pubmed Central ID
PMC7050624DOI
10.1016/j.bja.2019.12.032Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85077981813 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 30 CitationsAbstract
Exposure to anaesthetic drugs during the fetal or neonatal period induces widespread neuronal apoptosis in the brains of rodents and non-human primates. Hundreds of published preclinical studies and nearly 20 clinical studies have documented cognitive and behavioural deficits many months or years later, raising the spectre that early life anaesthesia exposure is a long-term, perhaps permanent, insult that might affect the quality of life of millions of humans. Although the phenomenon of anaesthesia-induced developmental neurotoxicity is well characterised, there are important and lingering questions pertaining to sex differences and neurodevelopmental sequelae that might occur differentially in females and males. We review the relevant literature on sex differences in the field of anaesthesia-induced developmental neurotoxicity, and present an emerging pattern of potential sex-dependent neurodevelopmental abnormalities in rodent models of human infant anaesthesia exposure.
Author List
Cabrera OH, Gulvezan T, Symmes B, Quillinan N, Jevtovic-Todorovic VAuthor
Thomas Gulvezan MD Assistant Professor in the Anesthesiology department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AnestheticsAnimals
Anxiety
Apoptosis
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity
Cognition Disorders
DNA Methylation
Female
Humans
Male
Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Neurotoxicity Syndromes
Sex Characteristics
