Conscious processing:  implications for general anesthesia.
OBJECTIVE
Can a general anesthetic binding to its membrane receptors alter global brain activity to cause loss of consciousness?


RESULTS
The identification of the neurobiological mechanisms of conscious processing in awake patients that are altered by general anesthetics and the atomic structure of the general anesthetic's binding site.


CONCLUSIONS
An important feature of general anesthesia is a preferential inhibition of global feedback connectivity when general anesthetics bind to allosteric sites of gamma-aminobutyric acid receptors present in the cerebral cortex.
Collège de France and Institut Pasteur, Paris, France. changeux@noos.fr
Jean-Pierre G
JP
Changeux
D000494:Allosteric Regulation; D000768:Anesthesia, General; D018681:Anesthetics, General / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D003243:Consciousness; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000378:metabolism; D011963:Receptors, GABA-A / Q000378:metabolism
D018681:Anesthetics, General; D007473:Ion Channels; D011963:Receptors, GABA-A