Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Caffeine Combined With Sedative/Anesthetic Drugs Used In Neonatal Medicine And Apoptotic Neurotoxicity In Developing Mouse Brain, Omar Hosea Cabrera

Dissertations

Each year, millions of premature babies are exposed to sedative/anesthetic drugs (SADs) in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Acute exposure to SADs triggers widespread apoptosis in the developing brain of rodents and non-human primates. Furthermore, premature infants are administered caffeine (CAF) to treat respiratory dysfunction. Mounting evidence suggests that CAF may be neurotoxic and, when given in combination with SADs, potentiates SAD-induced cell death. However, the apoptotic interaction of CAF and SAD co-exposure is poorly understood. In a series of studies, I report that CAF combined with the NICU SADs midazolam, ketamine, or fentanyl is more neurotoxic to the …