General Anesthesia Exposure in Infancy Causes Long-Term Memory Deficits in both

LordFlower writes: In a study, published today in Neuropsycopharmacology ( http://www.nature.com/npp/jour... ), and written about here ( http://www.theverge.com/2014/6... ), exposure to general anesthesia in both human and rat infants was associated with long-term episodic memory deficits. Children aged 6 to 11 years exposed to general anesthesia during infancy had poorer episodic memory than age /gender matched controls. This deficit was replicated in rats using an analogous paradigm with full experimental control of pre-existing conditions could be exercised, suggesting a causal relation rather than correlational one. Prior research in rats suggests a mechanism of disrupted developmental synaptogenesis and apoptosis ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pu...).

While a growing literature has demonstrated the presence of memory deficits and neurodegeneration in rats after general anesthesia exposure in infancy, this is the first to demonstrate a long-term deficit after exposure during human infancy. Given that each year 1.5 million infants undergo a surgery requiring general anesthesia, these findings are particularly alarming.