{
  "id": 11333898,
  "title": "Impact of opioid-based versus opioid-free anaesthesia on postoperative recovery, circulating inflammatory cytokines and brain-derived neurotrophic factor.",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/01/impact-of-opioid-based-versus-opioid-free-anaesthesia-on",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-01T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "bioRxiv",
    "slug": "biorxiv",
    "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.25.754530v1?rss=1"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In a controlled study of preclinical mice, researchers sought to compare the effects of opioid-based anaesthesia (OBA) versus opioid-free anaesthesia (OFA) on postoperative recovery. All mice underwent laparotomy or sham procedures and received intraoperative analgesic adjuncts: saline, fentanyl, or dexmedetomidine. Postoperative multimodal analgesia included carprofen, and behavioural recovery was assessed on days 1, 2, 3, and 7 using six domain-specific endpoints. Plasma levels of inflammatory cytokines and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were also measured. The results showed no significant differences between the OFA and OBA groups in any of the behavioural endpoints, including body weight, food intake, locomotor activity, mechanical sensitivity, sucrose preference, and social interaction. Additionally, there were no differences in postoperative circulating inflammatory cytokine or BDNF concentrations between the two anaesthesia groups. Overall, the study concluded that OFA and OBA produced similar postoperative behavioural recovery and biological profiles when multimodal analgesia was employed.",
  "summary": "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…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}