Untargeted metabolomics and mendelian randomization analysis identify alpha-linolenic acid and linoleic acid as novel biomarkers of perioperative neurocognitive dysfunction

Perioperative neurocognitive dysfunction (PND) occurs in elderly individuals undergoing anesthesia and surgery. To explore the potential molecular mechanisms, we performed right-sided cervical exploratory surgery under sevoflurane anesthesia in 18-month-old male Sprague-Dawley rats. Anxiety-depression-like behaviors and learning memory abilities were assessed using the Open Field Test (OFT) and Novel Object Recognition (NOR). Additionally, the hippocampus was collected one day after surgery for inflammatory factor detection, TUNEL staining, and metabolomics analysis. Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were subsequently conducted to validate the causal relationships by using a series of GWAS datasets related to representative differential metabolites as exposures and cognitive impairment as endpoints. The results indicated that rats exposed to anesthesia and surgery exhibited poorer cognitive performance, significant elevations in hippocampal inflammatory factors such as IL-1β and TNF-α, and extensive neuronal apoptosis. LC-MS/MS-based untargeted metabolomics identified 19 up-regulated and 32 down-regulated metabolites in the test group, with 6 differential metabolites involved in metabolic pathways enriched according to the KEGG database. ROC analysis revealed a correlation between α-linolenic acid (ALA) and linoleic acid (LA) and the development of PND. Further MR analysis confirmed that ALA was significantly associated with cognitive performance and the risk of depression, while LA was significantly associated with the risk of memory loss. Taken together, our results identified ALA and LA as potentially powerful biomarkers for PND.