Pre-anesthetic maternal separation increases pups' locomotor behavior during emergence from anesthesia in rats.

Abstract

Problematic behavior at emergence from anesthesia in children, partly linked with maternal separation, is a major problem in pediatric anesthesia. In humans, as well as in many other mammalian species, such separation causes psychological and behavioral changes. This study was to investigate whether or not pre-anesthetic maternal separation has a similar effect on rat pups. This study was conducted on 66 3-week-old Sprague-Dawley male rats. The rats were divided into two groups; pups housed with a dam (n = 33) and those housed without (n = 33). Pups were anesthetized with 1.2% halothane for 30 min. Afterwards we recorded their locomotor behavior at emergence from general anesthesia using a video tracking system. Pre-anesthetic maternal separation significantly increased the maximum velocity and the distance traveled by pups at the emergence. Pre-anesthetic maternal separation influenced pups' locomotive behavior at emergence.