Fig. 1

The effect of neonatal maternal separation on cognitive function after sevoflurane anesthesia in adult rats. a Schematic illustration of the experimental timeline. MS maternal separation, Sev anesthesia with 3% sevoflurane for 2 h, MWM Morris water maze, CFC context fear conditioning. b Anesthesia with 3% sevoflurane for 2 h in MS rats increased the escape latency in the acquisition phase of the MWM test on the third and fourth days after sevoflurane anesthesia. There was no statistically significant interaction of time and group between groups. Analysis was performed with repeated-measures two-way ANOVA. c The time in the target quadrant in the MS + sevoflurane group was less than those in the sevoflurane group and MS group by the MWM probe test. d The number of crossings of the platform area was lower in the MS + sevoflurane group than in the other three groups in the MWM probe test. e MS rats subjected to sevoflurane anesthesia exhibited reduced freezing to context when compared with normal rats that received sevoflurane anesthesia and MS rats without anesthesia. ^* P < 0.05, ^** P < 0.01 versus control; ⁺ P < 0.05, ⁺⁺ P < 0.01 versus sevoflurane; ^# P < 0.05, ^## P < 0.01 versus MS. Error bars represent the means ± SD (n = 10). Statistical analyses were performed using a one-way ANOVA followed by Student–Newman–Keuls post hoc test