Inhalatory anesthetic (halothane) associated changes in the immune response in mice.

The extent of surgery, the patient's age, health status and other factors may contribute to alteration of the immune system during anesthesia and surgery. In addition, inhalatory anesthetics may cause acute and chronic toxicity because of the production of intermediate and end metabolic compounds. The present work was undertaken to evaluate, both in vivo and in vitro, if repeated doses of halothane were able to affect the immune response in a murine model developed at our laboratory. Weekly doses of halothane were administered to mice subjected to no surgery and three days after the last anesthetic-exposure, several immunologic parameters were assessed. Results on the in vivo response to sheep red blood cells showed that halothane treatment increased the amount of specific antibody secreting B-cells, without affecting the delayed type hypersensitivity reaction to the same antigen. In vitro studies on spleen cell composition showed that halothane re-exposure diminished the number of CD4+, CD8+ and B-cells. Such changes were not translated into alterations on the mitogen-driven lymphoproliferation, as well as macrophage phagocytic and lytic functions. Our results indicate that halothane re-exposure is able to modulate the immune response affecting both the number of antibody secreting cells involved in a specific in vivo response, and the splenic lymphoid cell composition. Since such halothane-induced immune alterations might bias the results of a wide range of physiological research, even those involving other systems, a careful selection of the anesthetic agent and methods by which the compound is administered is advisable.