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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Apr 8.
Published in final edited form as: Neurosci Lett. 2016 Feb 26;618:1–5. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2016.02.045

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Anesthesia of P4-P6 rats with etomidate, in contrast to anesthesia with propofol, did not cause a significant acute increase in systemic levels of corticosterone and long-term changes in hippocampal synaptic activity. (A) Illustration of the experimental protocols. The P4, P5, or P6 rats of both genders received five injections of etomidate or propofol or their vehicles during 5 h separation from their mothers. Blood samples were collected immediately after 5 h of maternal separation to measure serum levels of corticosterone. Electrophysiological measurements were performed in two age groups: P24-P40 and >P80. (B) Examples of mIPSC recordings in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons of the P24-P40 rats that were treated at P4, P5, or P6 with saline, propofol, or etomidate. (C and D) Histograms showing the frequencies of mIPSCs and mEPSCs in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons of the P24-P40 rats. Number of recorded cells for each treatment group: saline (7), etomidate (7), propofol (6), propylene glycol (5), and intralipid (3). *P < 0.05 vs. all other treatment groups. (E) Histograms showing frequencies of mIPSCs in hippocampal CA1 neurons of the >P80 rats. Number of recorded cells for each treatment group: etomidate (9) and saline (8). (F) Histograms showing serum levels of corticosterone in the P4-P6 rats. Number of animals for each treatment group: saline (6), etomidate (6), propofol (6), propylene glycol (7), and intralipid (6). *P < 0.001 vs. all other treatment groups.