Objective      To determine the effect of propofol on the maturation and dendritogenesis of neurons in the developing cerebral cortex.      Methods      Mice from the same litters were randomly divided into 3 groups with 6 rats in each group

that is

control group (1% intralipid)

low-dosage propofol group (30 mg/kg propofol) and high-dosage propofol group (60 mg/kg propofol). The corresponding drugs were injected intra-peritoneally in 7 d after born (P7). In 1 h after the injection

immunofluorescence assay was used to detect the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and neuronal nuclei (NEUN) in the cerebral cortex of mice

and microtubule-associated protein 2 B (MAP2B) was used to detect the changes in the morphology and the number of cortical pyramidal cells. In 7 d after the injection (P14)

Golgi staining was further used to analyze the numbers of the total dendritic spines and its subtypes of cortical pyramidal cells.      Results      No significant difference was observed in GFAP-positive cells and NEUN-labeled cells in the cerebral cortex between mice treated with different dosage of propofol at P7. The MAP2B immunochemistry confirmed that the number of cortical pyramidal cells and its total dendrites were significantly lower in the high-dosage group than in control group at P7

while no significant difference was observed between the low-dosage group and control. Moreover

Golgi staining further demonstrated that the number of total dendritic spines of cortical pyramidal cells (P0.05) and the number of mushroom-type spines (P0.05) were significantly lower in the high-dosage group at P14 than the control. No significant difference was observed in the number of total dendritic spines while the number of mushroom-type spines was significant reduced (P0.05) in low-dosage group compared with control group.      Conclusion        Single injection of propofol has no significant influence on the number of mature cortical neurons or astrocytes

but high-dosage propofol treatment can significantly reduce the dendritogenesis of cortical pyramidal cells and the mature of the dendritic spines.