Effects of Isoflurane Anesthesia on Post-Anesthetic Sleep-Wake Architectures in Rats

• Published in: The Korean journal of physiology & pharmacology 2010, 14(5), , pp.291-297
• Main Authors: Jang, Hwan-Soo, Jung, Ji-Young, Jang, Kwang-Ho, Lee, Maan-Gee
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Original; 약리학
• ISSN: 1226-4512; 2093-3827
• DOI: 10.4196/kjpp.2010.14.5.291

The sleep homeostatic response significantly affects the state of anesthesia. In addition, sleep recovery may occur during anesthesia, either via a natural sleep-like process to occur or via a direct restorative effect. Little is known about the effects of isoflurane anesthesia on sleep homeostasis. We investigated whether 1) isoflurane anesthesia could provide a sleep-like process, and 2) the depth of anesthesia could differently affect the post-anesthesia sleep response. Nine rats were treated for 2 hours with ad libitum sleep (Control), sleep deprivation (SD), and isoflurane anesthesia with delta-wave-predominant state (ISO-1) or burst suppression pattern-predominant state (ISO-2) with at least a 1-week interval. Electroencephalogram and electromyogram were recorded and sleep-wake architecture was evaluated for 4 hours after each treatment. In the post-treatment period, the duration of transition to slow-wave-sleep decreased but slow wave sleep (SWS) increased in the SD group, but no sleep stages were significantly changed in ISO-1 and ISO-2 groups compared to Control. Different levels of anesthesia did not significantly affect the post-anesthesia sleep responses, but the deep level of anesthesia significantly delayed the latency to sleep compared to Control. The present results indicate that a natural sleep-like process likely occurs during isoflurane anesthesia and that the post-anesthesia sleep response occurs irrespective to the level of anesthesia.