Effect of propofol and ketamine anesthesia on cognitive function and immune function in young rats.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of propofol and ketamine on the cognitive function and immune function in young rats. METHOD: A total of 80 young rats were randomly divided into four groups Control group, ketamine group (experimental group A), propofol group (experimental group B), ketamine and propofol group (experimental group C). All rats had continuous injection for three times, serum IL-2, IL-4 and IL-10 and whole brain IL-1ß level, hippocampal neuronal apoptosis level were measured. The cognitive ability in rats was tested by water maze. RESULTS: Water maze test showed on the 1st d, the maze test latency of the control group, the experimental group B and the experimental group C water were decreased gradually; Compared with the control group after 3 days, the latency of the experimental group A, experimental group B and experimental group C were all decreased, the crossing circle times were also reduced. Hippocampal neuron apoptosis were (2.3 ± 1.7)%, (14.7 ± 6.9)%, (4.2 ± 3.3)%, (10.2 ± 4.8)% in control group, experimental group A, experimental group B and experimental group C, respectively. The neurons apoptosis of experimental group A was significantly increased. The serum IL-4 and IL-10 of the experimental group A, experimental group B and experimental group C after anesthesia were significantly higher than the control group. The whole brain IL-1ß of the experimental group A, experimental group B and experimental group C were significantly lower than the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Propofol can reduce anesthesia effect of ketamine on the cognitive function and immune function in the young rats.