OPERATING on fetuses and newborns might make them more sensitive to pain
later in life, say researchers at the National Institutes of ÎçÒ¹¸£Àû1000¼¯ºÏ near
Washington DC.
MaryAnn Ruda and colleagues simulated surgery on newborn rats by injecting an
inflammatory agent into a hind paw. When the rats reached adulthood, they
withdrew the test paw from a hot bulb much faster than rats that had been
injected with saline as newborns (Science, vol 289, p 628). They also
had more nerves in the region.
Until the 1980s, anaesthesia was rarely given to newborns because their
nervous system was considered immature.…
