This review will focus on inhalational anesthetic neuroprotection during cerebral ischemia and inhalational anesthetic preconditioning before ischemic brain injury. The limitations and challenges of past and current research in this area will be addressed before reviewing experimental and clinical studies evaluating the effects of inhalational anesthetics before and during cerebral ischemia. Mechanisms underlying volatile anesthetic neuroprotection and preconditioning will also be examined. Lastly, future directions for inhalational anesthetics and ischemic brain injury will be briefly discussed.

Inhalation anesthetics are effective chemical preconditioning agents in experimental cerebral ischemia. However, previous work has been performed exclusively in male animals. We determined if there is a gender difference in ischemic outcome after isoflurane preconditioning (IsoPC), and if this sex-specific response is linked to differences in Akt phosphorylation or expression of neuronal inducible cell-death putative kinase (NIPK), a negative modulator of Akt activation. Young and middle-aged male and female mice were preconditioned for 4 h with air (sham PC) or 1.0% IsoPC and recovered for 24 h. Cortices were subdissected from preconditioned young male and female mice for measurement of Akt phosphorylation (Western blot) and NIPK mRNA (quantitative polymerase chain reaction). Additional cohorts underwent 2 h of reversible middle cerebral artery occlusion. Lastly, male and female Akt1+/+ and Akt1−/– mice were studied to determine if gender differences in ischemic outcome after IsoPC is Akt1-dependent. Infarction volume was determined at 22 h reperfusion (2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride). As expected, IsoPC decreased ischemic damage as compared with sham PC in young and middle-aged male mice. In contrast, IsoPC markedly increased infarction in young female mice and had no effect in middle-aged female mice. Cortical phospho-Akt was increased by IsoPC versus sham PC only in male mice. No increase was observed in IsoPC female mice. NIPK mRNA was higher in female mice than in male mice regardless of preconditioning status. Male IsoPC neuroprotection was lost in Akt1-deficient male mice. We conclude that IsoPC is beneficial only in ischemic male brain and that sex differences in IsoPC are mediated through Akt activation and basal NIPK expression.

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Isoflurane preconditioning (IsoPC) neuroprotection in experimental stroke is male-specific. We determined whether estradiol alters ischemic outcomes in IsoPC brain and examined the role of estrogen receptors (ERs). Seven to 10 days before preconditioning, ovariectomized (OVX) mice were implanted with estradiol, vehicle, or ER subtype agonists. OVX ± estradiol, OVX ± vehicle, OVX ± ER agonists, and ER subtype wild-type (WT) and knockout (KO) mice were preconditioned for 4 h with sham anesthetic preconditioning (sham PC) or 1% IsoPC and recovered for 24 h. Mice then underwent 2 h of middle cerebral artery occlusion followed by 22 h of reperfusion. Infarct volumes were determined by 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining, with comparisons between IsoPC and corresponding sham PC for each treatment group. Decreased infarct injury was seen in IsoPC OVX ± vehicle, whereas estradiol in IsoPC OVX mice enhanced ischemic damage. In ER studies, increased infarct volumes were seen in IsoPC ERWT mice regardless of ER subtype. IsoPC in ERαKO mice had no effect on infarction volume but reduced only cortical ischemic damage in ERβKO mice. In OVX + ERα agonist, IsoPC had no effect on infarction volume. In OVX + ERβ agonist, IsoPC increased cortical infarct volume. Estradiol depresses the brain’s protective response to IsoPC and may exacerbate cortical ischemic injury mainly through an ERβ-dependent mechanism.