Objective: To investigate the effects of intravenous anesthetics on LPS-induced inflammatory responses of primary cultures of rat glial cells in vitro.
Methods: The primary cultures of rat glial cells were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide( LPS) to produce inflammatory responses. Glial cells were divided into 8 groups (n=4): blank control (Group C), LPS(Group L), 100micromol/L ketamine with LPS(Group K1), 1000micromol/L ketamine with LPS (Group K2), 30micromol/L propofol with LPS (Group P1), 300micromol/L propofol with LPS (Group P2), 3micromol/L midazolane with LPS (Group M1), and 30micromol/L midazolane with LPS (Group M2). TNF-alpha released into the culture media was measured by radioimmunity assay.
Results: Compared with the blank control Group C, LPS-induced TNF-alpha productions in Group L, K1, K2, P1, P2, M1 and M2 increased significantly. The levels of TNF-alpha in Group K1 and K2 were significantly lower than those in Group L (P<0.05), but TNF-alpha productions in Group P1, P2, M1 and M2 were not significantly different as compared with that in Group L.
Conclusion: Ketamine can reduce LPS-induced TNF-alpha production of glial cells, thereby inhabiting some of the inflammatory responses. Propofol and midazolam have no effect on the production of TNF-alpha from LPS-stimulated glial cells.