Sevoflurane and isoflurane are among the most commonly used general anesthetics for children including infants, but their impact on metabolism, especially on blood glucose level, in children is not well understood. We investigated the impacts of anesthesia of neonatal (7–8 days old) and adult (2–3 months old) mice with the inhalational anesthetics 2.5% sevoflurane or 1.5% isoflurane, or the injectable anesthetics propofol (150 mg/kg) or avertin (375 mg/kg), for up to 6 hours. We found that sevoflurane and isoflurane induced severe hypoglycemia in neonatal mice and that this phenomenon was specific to the inhalational anesthetics because the injectable anesthetics propofol and avertin did not induce hypoglycemia. Surprisingly, the inhalational anesthesia induced hyperglycemia instead in adult mice. We also demonstrated that the inhalational anesthesia-induced hypoglycemia was a major cause of death for the neonatal mice receiving intranasal administration of saline prior to anesthesia. These studies revealed severe hypoglycemia in neonatal mice during anesthesia with sevoflurane or isoflurane. If this phenomenon also occurs in human, our findings would warrant closely monitoring blood glucose level and maintaining it in the normal range in infants receiving inhalational anesthesia.

七氟醚和异氟烷是儿童（包括婴儿）最常用的全身麻醉剂，但它们对儿童代谢尤其是血糖水平的影响尚不清楚。我们研究了吸入麻醉剂2.5％七氟醚或1.5％异氟烷或注射麻醉剂异丙酚（150 mg / kg）或阿维汀对新生鼠（7-8天大）和成年（2-3月大）小鼠麻醉的影响（375 mg / kg），长达6小时。我们发现七氟醚和异氟烷在新生小鼠中引起严重的低血糖症，并且这种现象是吸入性麻醉药所特有的，因为注射麻醉药丙泊酚和Avertin不会引起低血糖症。令人惊讶的是，吸入麻醉代替了成年小鼠的高血糖症。我们还证明了吸入麻醉引起的低血糖是麻醉前接受鼻腔注射生理盐水的新生小鼠的主要死亡原因。这些研究表明，七氟醚或异氟烷麻醉期间新生小鼠体内存在严重的低血糖症。如果这种现象也发生在人类中，我们的发现将保证密切监测吸入式麻醉的婴儿的血糖水平并将其维持在正常范围内。