Impact of opioid-based versus opioid-free anaesthesia on postoperative recovery, circulating inflammatory cytokines and brain-derived neurotrophic factor.
- 1University of California, Los Angeles
Abstract
Background Opioid-free anaesthesia (OFA) has emerged as an alternative to opioid-based anaesthesia (OBA), but its benefit over OBA for postoperative quality of recovery (QoR) remains unclear. To address this question while limiting variability inherent in clinical studies, such as analgesic regimens and patient psychosocial factors, we investigated the effects of OFA versus OBA on postoperative recovery in a controlled preclinical mouse model. Methods Adult male and female C57BL/6J mice underwent laparotomy or sham procedures under isoflurane anaesthesia, and were randomly assigned to saline (control), fentanyl (OBA), or dexmedetomidine (OFA) as intraoperative analgesic adjuncts. All mice received multimodal postoperative analgesia, including carprofen. We adapted a standardised multidimensional recovery model using six behavioural endpoints reflecting human QoR domains: body weight, food intake, locomotor activity, mechanical sensitivity, sucrose preference, and social interaction. These endpoints were assessed on postoperative days 1, 2, 3, and 7. Plasma inflammatory cytokine and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) concentrations were also measured in parallel as potential biological correlates of recovery. Results Over the study period, we observed no treatment effect across behavioural endpoints in laparotomised mice, including body weight (P=0.157), food intake (P=0.884), locomotor activity (P=0.864), mechanical sensitivity (P=0.628), sucrose preference (P=0.615), and social interaction (P=0.442). Composite QoR scores did not differ between OFA and OBA groups (P=0.569), with no differences in postoperative circulating inflammatory cytokine or BDNF concentrations. Conclusions Dexmedetomidine-based OFA and fentanyl-based OBA produced similar postoperative behavioural recovery, circulating inflammatory cytokine and BDNF trajectories in laparotomised mice receiving multimodal postoperative analgesia.
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BibTeX
@misc{gricourt2026impact,
title = {{Impact of opioid-based versus opioid-free anaesthesia on postoperative recovery, circulating inflammatory cytokines and brain-derived neurotrophic factor.}},
author = {Y. Gricourt and K. Lin and T. Althoff and E. Nguyen and A. Mattern and M. Nair and T. Leong and E. Silva and T. R. Grogan and N. Massaly},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.25.754530},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.25.754530v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Impact of opioid-based versus opioid-free anaesthesia on postoperative recovery, circulating inflammatory cytokines and brain-derived neurotrophic factor.
AU - Y. Gricourt
AU - K. Lin
AU - T. Althoff
AU - E. Nguyen
AU - A. Mattern
AU - M. Nair
AU - T. Leong
AU - E. Silva
AU - T. R. Grogan
AU - N. Massaly
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/25
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.25.754530
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.25.754530v1
AB - Background Opioid-free anaesthesia (OFA) has emerged as an alternative to opioid-based anaesthesia (OBA), but its benefit over OBA for postoperative quality of recovery (QoR) remains unclear. To address this question while limiting variability inherent in clinical studies, such as analgesic regimens and patient psychosocial factors, we investigated the effects of OFA versus OBA on postoperative recovery in a controlled preclinical mouse model. Methods Adult male and female C57BL/6J mice underwent laparotomy or sham procedures under isoflurane anaesthesia, and were randomly assigned to saline (control), fentanyl (OBA), or dexmedetomidine (OFA) as intraoperative analgesic adjuncts. All mice received multimodal postoperative analgesia, including carprofen. We adapted a standardised multidimensional recovery model using six behavioural endpoints reflecting human QoR domains: body weight, food intake, locomotor activity, mechanical sensitivity, sucrose preference, and social interaction. These endpoints were assessed on postoperative days 1, 2, 3, and 7. Plasma inflammatory cytokine and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) concentrations were also measured in parallel as potential biological correlates of recovery. Results Over the study period, we observed no treatment effect across behavioural endpoints in laparotomised mice, including body weight (P=0.157), food intake (P=0.884), locomotor activity (P=0.864), mechanical sensitivity (P=0.628), sucrose preference (P=0.615), and social interaction (P=0.442). Composite QoR scores did not differ between OFA and OBA groups (P=0.569), with no differences in postoperative circulating inflammatory cytokine or BDNF concentrations. Conclusions Dexmedetomidine-based OFA and fentanyl-based OBA produced similar postoperative behavioural recovery, circulating inflammatory cytokine and BDNF trajectories in laparotomised mice receiving multimodal postoperative analgesia.
ER -