Babies Repeatedly Exposed To Anesthesia May Suffer From Altered Emotional Behavior

Emotional behavior may be altered and persist for years after multiple exposures to anesthesia early in life, says a new study.

The team from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai University in New York and the Yerkes National Primate Research Center exposed 10 nonhuman primates (rhesus monkeys) to a common pediatric anesthetic for four hours - a comparable length of time required for a significant surgical procedure in humans.

Children With Emotional Behavior Difficulties Identified
A new study on children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS in South Africa could help researchers understand and help children with emotional behavior issues

The stage of neurodevelopment of rhesus monkeys at birth is more similar to that of human infants compared to neo-natal rodents.

The monkeys were exposed to the anesthetic at post-natal day seven and then again two and four weeks later.

Researchers evaluated the socio-emotional behavior of exposed monkeys compared with that of healthy controls at six months of age using a mild social stressor (an unfamiliar human).

Do You Feel Anxiety or Even Depression While You're Pregnant? Is Yes, Then Be Careful As These Moods Affect Your Child's Long Term Emotional Behavior
A great number of women experience depression or anxiety while pregnant.

They found the anesthesia-exposed infants expressed significantly more anxious behaviors overall compared with controls.

"Events that impact the developing brain have the potential to affect a wide range of later-developing behaviors," said study co-investigator Maria Alvarado from Yerkes National Primate Research Center.

Explanation for How Two Brain Areas Interact to Trigger Divergent Emotional Behaviors Given By Study
The exact explanation for how two brain regions interact to promote emotionally motivated behaviors associated with anxiety and reward was provided by new research.

Retrospective birth-cohort studies of children have found an association between learning problems and multiple exposures to anesthesia early in life.

Previous research in animal models, mainly rodents, has shown that early anesthesia exposure causes cell death in the brain and cognitive impairments later in life.

Meditation Improves Emotional Behavior: Study
Teachers who practice meditation are more calm and compassionate than those who do not, says study.

"The major strength of the new study is its ability to separate anesthesia exposure from surgical procedures, which is a potential complication in the studies conducted in children," noted Mark Baxter, professor at the Icahn School of Medicine.

The results confirm that multiple anesthesia exposures alone result in emotional behavior changes in a highly translational animal model.

"This raises concerns about whether similar phenomena are occurring during clinical anesthesia exposure in children," the authors noted in a paper published in the journal Anesthesiology.

Source-IANS