Hypoxia-triggered O-GlcNAcylation in the brain drives the glutamate-glutamine cycle and reduces sensitivity to sevoflurane in mice.

Background: Hypersensitivity to general anaesthetics predicts adverse postoperative outcomes in patients. Hypoxia exerts extensive pathophysiological effects on the brain; however, whether hypoxia influences sevoflurane sensitivity and its underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood.

Methods: Mice were acclimated to hypoxia (oxygen 10% for 8 h day) for 28 days and anaesthetised with sevoflurane; the effective concentrations for 50% of the animals (EC) showing loss of righting reflex (LORR) and loss of tail-pinch withdrawal response (LTWR) were determined. Positron emission tomography-computed tomography, O-glycoproteomics, seahorse analysis, carbon-13 tracing, site-specific mutagenesis, and electrophysiological techniques were performed to explore the underlying mechanisms.

Results: Compared with the control group, the hypoxia-acclimated mice required higher concentrations of sevoflurane to present LORR and LTWR (EC50: 1.61 [0.03]% vs 1.46 [0.04]%, P<0.01; EC50: 2.46 [0.14]% vs 2.22 [0.06]%, P<0.01). Hypoxia-induced reduction in sevoflurane sensitivity was correlated with elevation of protein O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) modification in brain, especially in the thalamus, and could be abolished by 6-diazo-5-oxo-l-norleucine, a glutamine fructose-6-phosphate amidotransferase inhibitor, and mimicked by thiamet-G, a selective O-GlcNAcase inhibitor. Mechanistically, O-GlcNAcylation drives de novo synthesis of glutamine from glucose in astrocytes and promotes the glutamate-glutamine cycle, partially via glycolytic flux and activation of glutamine synthetase.

Conclusions: Intermittent hypoxia exposure decreased mouse sensitivity to sevoflurane anaesthesia through enhanced O-GlcNAc-dependent modulation of the glutamate-glutamine cycle in the brain.