Intranasal Insulin Prevents Anesthesia-Induced Spatial Learning and Memory Deficit in Mice

Elderly individuals are at increased risk of cognitive decline after anesthesia. General anesthesia is believed to be a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). At present, there is no treatment that can prevent anesthesia-induced postoperative cognitive dysfunction. Here, we treated mice with daily intranasal administration of insulin (1.75 U/day) for one week before anesthesia induced by intraperitoneal injection of propofol and maintained by inhalation of sevoflurane for 1 hr. We found that the insulin treatment prevented anesthesia-induced deficit in spatial learning and memory, as measured by Morris water maze task during 1–5 days after exposure to anesthesia. The insulin treatment also attenuated anesthesia-induced hyperphosphorylation of tau and promoted the expression of synaptic proteins and insulin signaling in the brain. These findings show a therapeutic potential of intranasal administration of insulin before surgery to reduce the risk of anesthesia-induced cognitive decline and AD.