Abstract:Objective To compared the effect of different anaesthetic drugs on the serum levels of excitatory amino acids (EAA) in the elderly undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting. Methods One hundred and twenty patients at America Society of Anesthesiologist (ASA) Ⅱ or Ⅲ and aged 60 to 75 years who undergoing selective off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting in our department were enrolled in this study. They were randomly divided into propofol and remifentanil group (group P) and sevoflurane (group S) (n=60 for each group). Group P received propofol and remifentanil to maintain anesthesia, and group S inhaled sevoflurane at the end-tidal concentration of 1.0%~1.5% during anesthesia. Blood samples were harvested from the internal jugular vein before anesthesia (T0), immediately after surgery (T1), at 24h (T2), 48h (T3) and 72h (T4) after surgery. Reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence was used to measure serum EAA concentrations. Results The serum concentrations of glutamic acid (Glu), asparagic acid (Asp) and glycine (Gly) were significantly higher at T2, T3 than at T0 (P<0.05). The concentrations were significantly higher at T2 in group P than in group S (P<0.05), and Glu concentrations was increased significantly at T3 (P<0.05). But there was no significant difference in the Glu, Asp, Gly concentrations at T1 and T4 between the 2 groups (P>0.05). Conclusions Anesthesia with propofol and remifentanil reduces the serum concentrations of EAA for the elderly undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass, and thus protect them from postoperative cognitive dysfunction.