IL6 and Cognitive impairment: •Added value of studyb.Employing sevoflurane as a clinically relevant tool, and using the approaches including wild-type, Tau, IL-6, and CypD knockout neonatal mice, the present studies showed that Tau phosphorylation caused IL-6 elevation, which induced mitochondrial dysfunction, leading to synaptic loss and cognitive impairment in the neonatal mice.