Cattano, D: Propofol Induces Neuroapoptosis in The Developin

Worldwide every year, anesthetics are used in millions of neonates and infants during surgical procedures and imaging studies, moreover hundreds of pregnant women receive surgery for no-pregnancy related problems. Advances in this field have resulted in an increased complexity, duration, and number of anesthesia procedures. A deep difference however exists between developing and adult neurons. During normal CNS development, an excess of neurons is produced and most of them have to die for the correct synaptic network formation. In this case, death is the default; immature neurons are competent to die and, in the absence of life-signals (trophic supports), they achieve this target by apoptosis, the active programmed-cell-death pathway. Adult neurons indeed, need to survive for the lifetime of the organism, and their premature death can cause irreversible functional deficits.Recent findings demonstrate that the transient exposure to several classes of drugs, including the intravenous anesthetic propofol, during the brain growth spurt period, triggers widespread and dose-dependent apoptosis in the developing brain.