Published in Scientific Works. Series C. Veterinary Medicine, Vol. LIX (1)
Written by Galina SIMEONOVA, Dinko DINEV, Emil SLAVOV, Krasimira HALACHEVA
It is well established that major surgery, anaesthesia, and sedation compromise a wide range of immune function that may predispose patients to postoperative infections, septic complications, and tumour spread. The immunosuppressive effects of general anaesthesia are quite different and depend on the used anesthetic agents, dose and combinations. We tested the hypothesis that perioperative lymphocytopenia is due to apoptosis of these cells induced by balanced anesthesia. The relation of lymphocyte apoptosis to the anaesthesiological stress and concentrations of the main pro-and anti-inflammatory cytokines was also investigated. Based on the results we concluded that balanced anaesthesia used in the present study induced lymphocytopenia by activation of apoptosis of these cells which was due to the combined apoptogenic effects of halothane, fentanyl, and pancuronium, but neither to the anaesthesia-related stress-response nor to changes in the main pro-and antiinflammatory cytokines TNF-alpha and IL-10. Total lymphocyte count was diminished on the expense of B-lymphocytes without significant changes in CD 5+ and CD 8+ cells. Clinical implications: balanced anaesthesia disturbs normal humoral immune response by decreasing the count of Blymphocytes for minimum 24 hours after anesthesia.
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apoptosis
