Anesthesia Inhibits Interferon-Induced Natural Killer Cell Cytotoxicity via Induction of CD8+ Suppressor Cells

Anesthesia (Avertin, halothane, isoflorane, ether, or ketamine/xylazan) of mice inhibits subsequent stimulation of splenic natural killer cell (NK) cytotoxicity by interferon (IFN) treatment either in vitro and in vivo. The current data demonstrate (a) in vitro depletion of CD8+ cells from mononuclear splenocytes of anesthetized mice restored the ability of NK cells to respond in vitro to IFN stimulation and (b) coincubation of CD8+ splenocytes from anesthetized mice with CD8- splenocytes of naive mice resulted in a significant reduction of the IFN-induced stimulation of NK activity in the coculture. These results suggest that anesthesia induces CD8+ cells that suppress stimulation of NK cytotoxicity by IFN.