Bratislava Medical Journal Vol.113, No.12, p.702–706, 2012

Aim: The aim of our study was to assess the evidence of oxidative stress in the rat liver tissue by studying enzymes, such as nitric oxide synthase (NOS), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione-S transferase (GST) activity, and thiobarbutiric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) levels in young versus old female rats after sevoflurane anaesthesia.
Material and method: The study involved 28 female Wistar Albino rats.

The rats were divided into the two groups [(Group I, n=14): Young sevoflurane group (Group I-YS, n=7); Young control group (Group I-YC, n=7)], [(Group II, n=14): Old sevoflurane group (Group II-OS, n=7); Old control group (Group II-OC, n=7)].

Sevoflurane was administered at 2 % volume inspiratory concentration, 6 L.min-1 in 100 % O2 for 2 hours. The control groups were not subjected to any procedures. Accordingly, GST, SOD, and NOS enzyme activity and TBARS level, were studied in the liver tissue samples of the rats to determine the presence of oxidative stress (OS) and antioxidant activity.
Results: Following administration of sevoflurane anaesthesia; GST, SOD enzyme activity and TBARS level was significantly higher in the Group I-YS than in the Group I-YC and in the Group II-OS than in the Group II-OC. There was no difference between the groups when the mean NOS levels were compared.
Conclusion: Although the results of our study are similar to the previous indicating that sevoflurane has the capacity to induce the oxidative stress; a new data has been recorded that sevoflurane has a similar effect on the OS level in aged and young female rat (Tab. 1, Fig. 4, Ref. 48).