Protective effect of isoflurane and sevoflurane on ischemic neurons and expression of Bcl-2 and ICE genes in rat brain / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the protective effect of volatile anesthetics, isoflurane and sevoflurane, on ischemic neurons after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion in rats and its possible molecular mechanism.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Rat cerebral ischemia-reperfusion model was developed by occlusion of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) and bilateral common carotid arteries (CCAs) 1 h after reperfusion. Using flow cytometry (FCM) and Northern blot hybridization, we calculated the number of apoptotic bodies and detected the expression of bcl-2 mRNA and interleukin-1beta converting enzyme (ICE) mRNA.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The apoptotic bodies in hippocampus analyzed by FCM peaked at appeared 24 h after reperfusion, and decreased about 54% and 40%, respectively, after treatment with isoflurane and sevoflurane, as compared with ischemic group. There was no significant difference in the expression of bcl-2 mRNA and ICE mRNA between the inhaled anesthetic groups and ischemic group in hippocampus 24 h after MCA/CCAs occlusion.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Isoflurane and sevoflurane partially inhibit apoptosis but have no significant effect on the expression of bcl-2 and ICE genes.</p>