Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Hemmings, Hugh C.
• Riegelhaupt, Paul M.
• Kelz, Max B.
• Solt, Ken
• Eckenhoff, Roderic G.
• Orser, Beverley A.
• Goldstein, Peter A.

Titel

Towards a Comprehensive Understanding of Anesthetic Mechanisms of Action: A Decade of Discovery

Ist Teil von

• Trends in pharmacological sciences (Regular ed.), 2019-07, Vol.40 (7), p.464-481

Ort / Verlag

England: Elsevier Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2019

Quelle

Elsevier ScienceDirect Journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Significant progress has been made in the 21st century towards a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms of action of general anesthetics, coincident with progress in structural biology and molecular, cellular, and systems neuroscience. This review summarizes important new findings that include target identification through structural determination of anesthetic binding sites, details of receptors and ion channels involved in neurotransmission, and the critical roles of neuronal networks in anesthetic effects on memory and consciousness. These recent developments provide a comprehensive basis for conceptualizing pharmacological control of amnesia, unconsciousness, and immobility. Major inroads have been made in identifying additional anesthetic binding sites using a combination of techniques, both in vitro and in vivo.Gene deletion studies demonstrate important roles for both ligand- and voltage-gated ion channels in producing anesthetic-induced loss of consciousness with in silico modeling establishing an interactive modulation between the two.Distinct circuits and networks in the brain contribute to anesthetic-induced loss of consciousness while others govern emergence.Anesthetic effects can persist beyond the immediate perioperative period with adverse impact on memory, learning, and possibly cognitive function.