The effects of repetitive isoflurane anesthesia during newborn period of rats on learning and memory skills

Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of repetitive isoflurane anesthesia during newborn period of rats on learning and memory skills.Material and Method: Anesthesia group (n:13): divided into two as one time isoflurane anesthesia group (GA1) (n:7) and five times isoflurane anesthesia group (GA5) (n:6) and %1.5 isoflurane concentration in 6 L.dk-1 oxygen two hours/day performed repetitively. The rats in the control group (GK) (n:8) breath in normal room air. All rats had standard conditions after anesthesia and Morris Water Maze test was performed at the end of fifth week to determine learning and memory skills.Results: Memory test was performed on the fifth day (probe trial) and it was observed that one time anesthesia group stayed less in the target area (p<0.001) and longer in the opposite area than other groups (p<0.05). The time to find the platform was longer in the anesthesia groups than the control group for four days? learning process in Morris Water Maze test (p=0.082).Discussion and Conclusion: GK? s performance was better than GA1 and GA5 and GA5? s performance was better than GA1 in Morris Water Maze Task. These findings confirm that isoflurane impairs the learning and memory abilities but repeated isoflurane anesthesia protects these skills.In this study it has been shown that isoflurane anesthesia at %1.5 concentration administered to newborn rats causes learning and memory deficits in declining ages.Key Words: Isoflurane, rat, learning and memory