General anesthesia in early infancy accelerates visual cortical development
Abstract
How human brain function is established through protracted trajectories of development is not yet fully understood. Maturation of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) circuits drives critical periods of cortical development in animal models. Whether early functional inhibition similarly impacts the pace of human brain development remains unknown. Here, in a longitudinal study of 93 infants across a range of repeated exposures to general anesthesia shortly after birth, we observed a dramatically accelerated development of visual evoked potential (VEP) waveforms (but not their latency) consistent with a conserved biological mechanism across species. Such sequelae of prolonged GABA-active anesthesia in the first half year after birth may particularly impact those at-risk of altered excitatory–inhibitory circuit balance.
Article Details
Journal Info
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Sciences
Authors (12)
Laurel J. Gabard-Durnam
Center for Cognitive and Brain Health, Northeastern University
Sarah A. McCormick
Center for Cognitive and Brain Health, Northeastern University
Ellen Underwood
International Research Center for Neurointelligence, University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study
Alice Tao
International Research Center for Neurointelligence, University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study
Isabelle Kim
International Research Center for Neurointelligence, University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study
Siobhan Coffman
Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Lindsay Benster
Laboratories of Cognitive Neurosciences, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Maria Graziano
International Research Center for Neurointelligence, University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study
Charles A. Nelson
Laboratories of Cognitive Neurosciences, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Charles B. Berde
International Research Center for Neurointelligence, University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study
Laura Cornelissen
International Research Center for Neurointelligence, University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study
Takao K. Hensch
International Research Center for Neurointelligence, University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study