OBJECTIVE  To explore XingNaoJing injection how to alleviated postoperative cognitive dysfunction induced by sevoflurane and the Notch signaling pathway potential effect during above process.

  METHODS  36 male C57BL/6J mice aged of 8-12 weeks were randomly divided into three groups: control (Con), Sevoflurane (Sev), and sevoflurane+XingNaoJing injection(Sev+XNJ) groups, with 12 mice in each group. The cognitive abilities of mice in each group were tested using the Morris water maze. The hippocampal inflammation level in each group were tested using the immunofluorescence and qPCR. The neural stem cells proliferation function in each group were tested using the immunofluorescence. The relative protein expression of the Notch signaling pathway in each group were tested using the Western blotting.

  RESULTS  The Morris water maze results showed that 3% sevoflurane exposure for 6 hours induced cognitive dysfunction in adult mice. Immunofluorescence results showed that hippocampal microglia were activated and neural stem cells proliferation was inhibited. qPCR and Western blot analysis showed that the mRNA levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and the expression level of the Notch signaling pathway-related proteins in the hippocampus were upregulated by sevoflurane.

  CONCLUSION  XingNaoJing injection mitigated sevoflurane-induced deficits in learning and memory by modulating the Notch signaling pathway. This research raised the possibility that XingNaoJing injection pretreatment might be a feasible measure to prevent postoperative cognitive deficits in adult mice induced by sevoflurane.