Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40720641›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2025

General anesthesia in early infancy accelerates visual cortical development.

Laurel J Gabard-Durnam, Sarah A McCormick, Ellen Underwood, Alice Tao, Isabelle Kim, Siobhan Coffman, Lindsay Benster, Maria Graziano, Charles A Nelson, Charles B Berde and 2 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Laurel J Gabard-DurnamCenter for Cognitive and Brain Health, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02120.
Sarah A McCormickCenter for Cognitive and Brain Health, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02120.ORCID 0000-0001-9186-2439
Ellen UnderwoodInternational Research Center for Neurointelligence, University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, Tokyo 113, Japan.
Alice TaoInternational Research Center for Neurointelligence, University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, Tokyo 113, Japan.
Isabelle KimInternational Research Center for Neurointelligence, University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, Tokyo 113, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-5901-7347
Siobhan CoffmanDepartment of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115.
Lindsay BensterLaboratories of Cognitive Neurosciences, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115.ORCID 0000-0003-0510-6448
Maria GrazianoInternational Research Center for Neurointelligence, University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, Tokyo 113, Japan.
Charles A NelsonLaboratories of Cognitive Neurosciences, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115.
Charles B BerdeInternational Research Center for Neurointelligence, University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, Tokyo 113, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-1801-6399
Laura CornelissenInternational Research Center for Neurointelligence, University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, Tokyo 113, Japan.ORCID 0000-0001-8579-0870
Takao K HenschInternational Research Center for Neurointelligence, University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, Tokyo 113, Japan.ORCID 0000-0003-0748-8152

Funding

MEXT | Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) WPI-IRCN
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

How human brain function is established through protracted trajectories of development is not yet fully understood. Maturation of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) circuits drives critical periods of cortical development in animal models. Whether early functional inhibition similarly impacts the pace of human brain development remains unknown. Here, in a longitudinal study of 93 infants across a range of repeated exposures to general anesthesia shortly after birth, we observed a dramatically accelerated development of visual evoked potential (VEP) waveforms (but not their latency) consistent with a conserved biological mechanism across species. Such sequelae of prolonged GABA-active anesthesia in the first half year after birth may particularly impact those at-risk of altered excitatory-inhibitory circuit balance.

Indexed as

Anesthesia, GeneralEvoked Potentials, VisualVisual CortexFemalegamma-Aminobutyric AcidHumansInfantInfant, NewbornLongitudinal StudiesMalegamma-Aminobutyric AciddevelopmentGABAvision

Identifiers

PMID40720641
PMCPMC12337338

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.