Sevoflurane Exposure in Developing Rodents

After a 1 h pre-treatment either with saline (control) or DEX, the pups were placed in an anesthetic chamber for sevoflurane exposure, as a sevoflurane-medical air-oxygen gas mixture (75% O₂), vaporized using a Datex-Ohmeda Aestiva/5 vaporizer. The sevoflurane concentrations were monitored with a GE Healthcare Gas Analyzer. The sevoflurane concentration used was 3.2% for 1 or 2 h at P7 [27 (link)]. The pups used for molecular testing were euthanized 24 h after anesthetic exposure using a decapitation method. Brains were isolated from the pups, and the hippocampus was carefully separated and stored at −80 °C.
The pups randomly selected for behavioural testing were ear-notched at P14 and weaned in cages of 2 to 3 animals, separated by their sexes. Animals were kept undisturbed until P60 and then subjected to various behavioural tests.
Note: In order to assess the animals’ behaviours in a more accurate and in-depth way, we used a host of qualitative parameters to explain differences in an animal’s behaviour that are not commonly described in most studies. We incorporated terms such as “erratic” [124 (link),125 (link)], “hesitant” [126 (link),127 (link)], “unsure”, “undecisive”, exploratory” [127 (link),128 (link)], “anxious” [126 (link),127 (link)] and “reluctance” to better describe differences between treated and untreated animals.