Study Examines How Brain Reboots After Anesthesia

A recent study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides important clues about the processes used by structurally normal brains to navigate from unconsciousness, back to consciousness, after surgical anesthesia. During the study, the research team recorded the electrical activity from several brain areas associated with arousal and consciousness in a rodent model that had been given the anesthetic isoflurane. They then slowly decreased the amount of anesthesia, similar to what is done with patients in an operating room, monitoring how the electrical activity in the brain changed, looking for common activity patterns. The researchers found that recovery from anesthesia is not simply the result of the anesthetic wearing off, but also the brain finding its way back through a maze of possible activity states that allow conscious experience. The study suggests a new way to think about the human brain under anesthesia, encouraging physicians to reexamine how they approach monitoring anesthesia in the operating room. To read more about this study, click here.