Clinical Scholar Research Award
Greg Stratmann, MD, PhD
Is pediatric anesthesia associated with long-term hippocampal dysfunction?
University of California, San Francisco
2009 CSRA - $80,000
"The Clinical Scholar Research Award allowed me to address an important aspect of anesthesia research long before it was ripe for NIH funding. Federal agencies are now recognizing the importance of this research, and thanks to the IARS award, we now have strong preliminary data to support an application for federal funding."
Current Research
Dr. Stratmann is testing how anesthesia affects hippocampal function, and working to define the cognitive domain affected by infantile anesthesia. His hypothesis is that anesthesia given to children under the age of two years old for more than two hours impairs hippocampal function as these children grow older. Dr. Stratmann aims to establish a cognitive test that is translatable from rodents to humans, so the effectiveness of potential strategies to treat or prevent cognitive decline after anesthesia in infancy can be assessed.
Key Publications
Stratmann G, Sall JW, May LD, Bell JS, Magnusson KR, Rau V, Visrodia KH, Alvi RS, Ku B, Lee MT, Dai R: Isoflurane differentially affects neurogenesis and long-term neurocognitive function in 60-day-old and 7-day-old rats. Anesthesiology 2009; 110:834-48
Stratmann G, May LD, Sall JW, Alvi RS, Bell JS, Ormerod BK, Rau V, Hilton JF, Dai R, Lee MT, Visrodia KH, Ku B, Zusmer EJ, Guggenheim J, Firouzian A: Effect of hypercarbia and isoflurane on brain cell death and neurocognitive dysfunction in 7-day-old rats. Anesthesiology 2009; 110:849-61
Stratmann G, Sall JW, Eger EI, Laster MJ, Bell JS, May LD, Eilers H, Krause M, Heusen F, Gonzalez HE: Increasing the duration of isoflurane anesthesia decreases the minimum alveolar anesthetic concentration in 7-day-old but not in 60-day-old rats. Anesth Analg 2009; 109:801-6