Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) induced by
anesthesia or surgery has become a common complication in the aged population.
Sevoflurane, a clinical
inhalation anesthetic, could stimulate
calcium overload and necroptosis to POCD. In addition, necroptosis inhibitor
necrostatin-1 (Nec-1) alleviated
cognitive impairment caused by multiple causes, including postoperative
cognitive impairment. However, whether Nec-1 exerts a
neuroprotective effect on POCD via
calcium and necroptosis remains unclear. We anesthetized Sprague-Dawley rats with
sevoflurane to construct the POCD model and to explore the mechanism underlying
neuroprotective effects of Nec-1 in POCD. Rats were treated with Nec-1 (6.25 mg/kg) 1 h prior to
anesthesia. Open field test and Morris water maze were employed to detect the cognitive function. In this study, rats exposed to
sevoflurane displayed
cognitive dysfunction without changes in spontaneous activity; however, the
sevoflurane-induced POCD could be relieved by Nec-1 pretreatment. Nec-1 decreased
sevoflurane-induced
calcium overload and
calpain activity in the hippocampus. In addition, Nec-1 alleviated the expression of p-RIPK1, RIPK1, p-RIPK3, RIPK3, p-MLKL and MLKL. Furthermore, Nec-1 remarkably increased
BDNF and p-TrkB/TrkB expression in the hippocampus of aged rats. Ultimately, our research manifests evidence that Nec-1 may play a neuroprotective role against
sevoflurane-induced
cognitive impairment via the increase of
BDNF/TrkB and suppression of necroptosis-related pathway.