Figure 1.

Schematic illustration of neonatal anesthesia-induced oxidative stress in the brain. During the administration of neonatal anesthesia, there are three immediate pathways (blue) for how oxidative stress (red) can manifest. These immediate pathways have three distinct sources, altered signaling, administration of supplemental oxygen, and neuronal cell death; each of these can increase the concentration of ROS and induce oxidative stress. The short-term pathway (yellow) appears to be less impactful since it is short-lived; this is shown in the figure with a dashed arrow. The long-term pathway (green) shows the delayed effects of neonatal anesthesia and how the initial damage to neurons can negatively affect neurovascular interactions, leading to oxidative stress.