Beneficial Effects of Remifentanil Against Excitotoxic Brain Damage in Newborn Mice

Conclusions: In vivo exposure to remifentanil exerts a beneficial effect against excitotoxicity on the developing mouse brain, which is associated with a reduction in the size of ibotenate-induced brain lesion as well as prevention of some behavioral deficits in young mice. The long-term effect of neonatal exposure to remifentanil should be investigated. Introduction The potential neurotoxicity of anesthetics in the perinatal period prompted the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to release a drug safety communication warning in 2016 that stated, “repeated or lengthy use of general anesthetics or sedation drugs during surgeries or procedures in children younger than 3 years of age or in pregnant women during the final trimester may affect development of children's brains” (1). Use of anesthetics in the perinatal period is, therefore, a particularly delicate matter, and obstetric anesthesiologists have to weigh risks and benefits in order to make decisions regarding the exposure of the developing brain to anesthetics; on the one hand, it is ethically essential to relieve pain of the parturient during labor or cesarean section, while on the other hand, anesthetics, including opioids, are potentially deleterious to brain development when used during the fetal period or before 3 years of age (2). Indeed, exposure to anesthetics is associated with altered neuronal proliferation and degeneration as well as behavioral disturbances in animal studies...
Source: Frontiers in Neurology - Category: Neurology Source Type: research