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Propofol alleviates cisplatin-related cognitive impairment

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Abstract

Chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) is commonly reported following the administration of chemotherapeutic agents and comprises a wide variety of neurological problems. Many patients after chemotherapy need further surgery under anesthesia. Thus, in this study, we examined whether propofol, one of the most commonly used anesthetics in surgery, could further affect the cognitive abilities in mouse CRCI models. The mice were injected intraperitoneally with cisplatin (2 mg/kg/day) for continuous 10 days and showed significantly reduced body weights. After 10 days reconversion, mice with cisplatin injection showed impaired memory retention in the inhibitory avoidance (IA) task, mimicking the CRCI in patients. Then, we found that a single injection of propofol with the sub-anesthetic dosage (50 mg/kg) but not the anesthetic dosage (250 mg/kg) could significantly alleviate the cisplatin-induced memory impairment. These results imply the possible clinical application of propofol, especially at the sub-anesthetic dosage, in the surgery of patients after chemotherapy.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank all the study participants.

Funding

The study was supported by the Department of Anesthesiology, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao tong University School of Medicine. The Research Project of The Experimental Animal Science of Shanghai Technology Innovation Action Plan (13140901102).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China

    Yu Zhou & Yimin Qiu

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  1. Yu Zhou
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  2. Yimin Qiu
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Correspondence to Yimin Qiu.

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Animal care and experimental procedures were approved by Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (Shanghai Institute of Planned Parenthood Research Animal Care).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Zhou, Y., Qiu, Y. Propofol alleviates cisplatin-related cognitive impairment. Neurol Sci 40, 1645–1649 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-019-03895-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-019-03895-3

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