Exogenous recombinant Hsp70 attenuates sevoflurane anesthesia‐induced cognitive dysfunction in aged mice

Abstract

Background: Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is a severe postoperative neurological sequela in elderly patients, and there is currently no standard treatment for POCD. In this study, whether recombinant human heat shock protein 70 (rHsp70) could alleviate sevoflurane-induced cognitive impairment in aged mice is investigated. Methods:To determine the prophylactic effect of rHsp70 in sevoflurane-induced cognitive dysfunction, aged mice were pretreated with different concentrations of rHsp70 (29.4, 58.8, and 117.6 μg/kg; intranasal injected; N = 12) every day for 1 week; then, 3% sevoflurane was utilized to anesthetize the aged mice. Cognitive function, neurotoxicity, and serum and hippocampal Hsp70 levels in aged mice undergoing sevoflurane anesthesia were assessed by the Morris water maze test and enzymelinked immunosorbent assay. The effects of rHsp70 on inflammatory response were assessed by proinflammatory cytokine production and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activation assays. Results:We found that aged mice exposed to sevoflurane showed reduced learning and memory ability and reduced Hsp70 expression, which were both restored by rHsp70 pretreatment. RHsp70 also reversed sevoflurane-induced up-regulated Bax and Bcl-2 expression and interleukin-1, IL-6, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 overproduction. Finally, rHsp70 pretreatment suppressed sevoflurane-induced NF-κB activation. Our study indicated that rHsp70 was sufficient to suppress sevofluraneinduced cognitive decline and neurotoxicity. Conclusion:Our important finding warrants further study on the clinical application of rHsp70 in elderly patients undergoing anesthesia.

Liraglutide improves sevoflurane-induced postoperative cognitive dysfunction via activating autophagy and inhibiting apoptosis

“…Its high incidence rate significantly affects the postoperative outcome and long-term quality of life of the elderly patients. It is believed that POCD is caused by many factors, including patient’s age, anesthetic drugs, anesthetic methods, types of surgery, duration of anesthetic surgery, etc., [ 4 ]. Anesthetics, especially general anesthetics, are generally considered as one of the important risk factors for POCD [ 5 ].…”