Methods for studying the effect of anesthetics on anoxic damage in the rat hippocampal slice

The rat hippocampal slice was used as a model system to study the effects of anesthetics on anoxic damage. Thiopental, but not isoflurane, allowed recovery of the postsynaptic population spike evoked from the dentate granule cells. Creatine preincubation protected both dentate granule and CA1 pyramidal cells against anoxic damage. Calcium-free, 10 mM magnesium artificial cerebrospinal fluid (ACSF) was shown to protect CA1 pyramidal cells against anoxic damage. The presynaptic population spike recovered to its preanoxic amplitude after anoxia even under conditions where the postsynaptic population spike demonstrated no recovery. Thus the hippocampal slice is a useful system for studying the effects of anesthetics and other pharmacological agents on anoxic damage.