The effects of anesthetics on the generation of cortical spreading depression (CSD) were investigated. Volatile anesthetics halothane, isoflurane, sevoflurane (0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 MAC), and the intravenous anesthetic pentobarbital were studied. Cortical spreading depression was induced by 3M-KCI applied to a surface of brain cortex for 30 minutes. Direct current (DC) potential was recorded, and the number, amplitude, and duration of CSDs were observed. With increasing concentrations of each volatile anesthetic, there was a dose-related reduction in CSD frequency but not in CSD amplitude. At 2.0 MAC of sevoflurane the suppression of CSD was less than with the other volatile anesthetics. In addition, the influence of anesthetics on expression of c-fos mRNA was investigated. Additional animals anesthetized by isoflurane or sevoflurane were studied. Five CSDs were elicited by electric stimulation (0.5 mV, l second) in each animal. In situ hybridization with 35S-labeled oligonucleotides was used to evaluate the level of c-fos mRNA. The expression of c-fos was observed in the hemisphere in which CSD was elicited, but there was no difference in expression of c-fos among the groups. We conclude that volatile anesthetics can induce suppression of CSD elicitation in a dose dependent manner, but that at high concentrations sevoflurane is significantly less effective than other volatile agents. Pentobarbital has the least effect on KCl-induced CSD. These data suggest that the choice of anesthetics can impact the results of studies examining membrane depolarization and the ionic changes initiated by CSD.