Similarity and dissimilarity in alterations of the gene expression profile associated with inhalational anesthesia between sevoflurane and desflurane

PLoS One. 2024 Mar 28;19(3):e0298264. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0298264. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Although sevoflurane is one of the most commonly used inhalational anesthetic agents, the popularity of desflurane is increasing to a level similar to that of sevoflurane. Inhalational anesthesia generally activates and represses the expression of genes related to xenobiotic metabolism and immune response, respectively. However, there has been no comprehensive comparison of the effects of sevoflurane and desflurane on the expression of these genes. Thus, we used a next-generation sequencing method to compare alterations in the global gene expression profiles in the livers of rats subjected to inhalational anesthesia by sevoflurane or desflurane. Our bioinformatics analyses revealed that sevoflurane and, to a greater extent, desflurane significantly activated genes related to xenobiotic metabolism. Our analyses also revealed that both anesthetic agents, especially sevoflurane, downregulated many genes related to immune response.

MeSH terms

  • Anesthesia, Inhalation
  • Anesthetics, Inhalation* / pharmacology
  • Animals
  • Desflurane
  • Isoflurane* / pharmacology
  • Methyl Ethers* / pharmacology
  • Rats
  • Sevoflurane / pharmacology
  • Transcriptome
  • Xenobiotics

Substances

  • Sevoflurane
  • Desflurane
  • Isoflurane
  • Methyl Ethers
  • Xenobiotics
  • Anesthetics, Inhalation

Grants and funding

Takehiro Nogi is the recipient of in-house grants from Saitama Medical University (Internal Grants, 21-B-1-07 and 23-B-1-15) and Saitama Medical University Hospital (02-E-1-08). Akihiko Okuda is the recipient of a grant from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (KAKENHI: grant number 23H02678). However, these funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.