What is General Anesthesia? from IARS2012

International Science Symposium

Mechanisms of Anesthesia

Moderator Emery N. Brown, MD, PhD

What is General Anesthesia?

The objective of the science symposium was to

develop a characterization of the states of the brain

under general anesthesia in terms of the action of

anesthetics at specific receptors in specific neural

circuits. We know a lot about the molecular targets

of drugs and the clinical behavioral states after anesthesia,

but we are missing the link between those two elements.

Cortical Feedback and General Anesthesia. George A. Mashour, MD, PhD discussed cortical feedback and

general anesthesia, the gap in the study of

consciousness and anesthesia, and described the

basic principles of consciousness.

Neurophysiological Correlates of Unconsciousness

Under General Anesthesia. Patrick L. Purdon, PhD

discussed how to recognize electroencephalographic

patterns observed during general anesthesia, and

understand the mechanisms underlying these patterns.

Active Reanimation from General Anesthesia. Ken Solt, MD reviewed the arousal pathways in the brain and how activation of arousal pathways can be used to induce

active reanimation from general anesthesia.

Anesthetic Amnesia: Insights from Human Subject

Research. Kane O. Pryor, MD discussed the neural

circuits responsible for memory formation and possible mechanisms of anesthetic induced amnesia.

See the link below for more information on mechanisms

of anesthesia: http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v28/n1s/full/1300142a.html