Environmental enrichment enhances anesthetic actions in rat amygdala hippocampal circuits in vitro

These findings demonstrate that rearing in an enriched environment enhances anesthetic potency by strengthening GABAergic inhibitory circuits and modifying pharmacological profiles at the network level. This enhancement was most evident for propofol, indicating that environmental factors can significantly influence anesthetic sensitivity within hippocampal circuits. Clinically, an individual's life history and environment may represent critical yet overlooked determinants of anesthetic requirements. These results highlight the importance of personalized pharmacology in anesthesia and suggest that standardized dosing of GABAergic agents may cause overdose in individuals with enhanced inhibitory function. Overall, this study provides mechanistic insights into how environmental neuroplasticity modulates anesthetic pharmacodynamics, advancing our understanding of interindividual variability in drug response and perioperative safety.