Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Anesthesia and Alzheimer's

Considering many people have temporary "insanity" and memory loss after surgery, I found this interesting:

Does Anesthesia Increase Alzheimer's Risk?

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School recently studied human brain cells subjected to the common anesthetic desflurane for six hours in order to simulate a surgery situation. They found that when oxygen levels were normal, desflurane did not adversely affect the brain cells. However, when the cells were subjected to low oxygen levels, the desflurane was associated with increased production of beta amyloid, a protein found in elevated quantities in the brains of those with Alzheimer's. Low oxygen alone did not increase beta amyloid production.

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