Sevoflurane is an anesthetic for the general anesthesia. In this study
we showed that sevoflurane anesthesia affects the expression of mouse Per2 (mPer2)
which is a clock gene in the brain which is considered the organ where the anesthetics act in. 64.5% of mPer2 circadian expression was repressed under anesthesia in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the brain. After recovering from the anesthesia
the repressed mPer2 expression was restored to the same level as in non anesthesia-treated mice. This repression pattern was also observed in the subsequent phases of diurnal mPer2 expression. However
obvious phase-shift in the mPer2 expression was not showed in this study. On the other hand
the behavior analysis in this experiment exhibited that the phases in the circadian behavioral rhythm were shifted backwards. We also measured the NAD(+). level in the SCN
which was a mediator regulating the mPer2 expression. Then
significant increase of NAD(+) was detected under the anesthesia. These results indicate that the anesthesia induces the increase of NAD(+)
and consequently leads to the repression of mPer2 expression and modifies the circadian expression pattern and diurnal behavioral rhythm of mice. Furthermore
the modification of mPer2 expression by the anesthesia is considered to affect various gene expressions. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
