Mechanisms of anesthetic actions and the brain.
The neural mechanisms behind anesthetic-induced behavioral changes such as loss of consciousness, amnesia, and analgesia, are insufficiently understood, though general anesthesia has been of tremendous importance for the development of medicine. In this review, I summarize what is currently known about general anesthetic actions at different organizational levels and discuss current and future research, using systems neuroscience approaches such as functional neuroimaging and quantitative electrophysiology to understand anesthesia actions at the integrated brain level.
Ishizawa
Yumiko
Y
Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, Clinics 3, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
D000758:Anesthesia; D000777:Anesthetics / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
D000777:Anesthetics; D007473:Ion Channels