Fig. 1

Postoperative changes in cognitive function, synaptic density and neuronal morphology in aged mice. A Schema of the experimental design. B, C Y-maze test on 14, the number of errors (B); the latency (C). One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test was applied to the analysis of latency, Kruskal–Wallis test with Dunn’s multiple comparisons test was applied to the number of errors, n = 13–14 mice per group. D, E: NOR test on POD 14, including: discrimination index of two similar objects (A1 and A2) on POD 13 training (D); discrimination index of novel object (B) on POD 14 testing (E). One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test with n = 6 mice per group. F: representative WB images of pre- and post-synaptic markers from hippocampal synaptosomes from POD 14. G-J: statistical analysis of pre- and post-synaptic protein levels including: PSD95 (G), SYN I (H), SYP (I), and SYB (J), normalized to β-tubulin, One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test, n = 7–8 mice per group. K: representative images of Golgi staining in the hippocampus, * representative neurons, scale bar: 100um. L: Sholl analysis evaluating neuronal morphology. One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test, 6 neurons per mice were analysed, n = 4 mice per group. Data is presented as mean ± SEM, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001. POD: post-operative day, Y-maze test = forced alternation Y-maze test, NOR test = novel object recognition test,. PSD95: postsynaptic density protein 95, SYN I: synapsin I, SYP: synaptophysin, SYB: synaptobrevin, TUJ, β-tubulin. CON = control, SEVO = sevoflurane, LAP = laparotomy