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The hypnotic powers of anaesthetics

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 13, page 817 (2012)Cite this article

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How volatile anaesthetics such as isoflurane produce unconsciousness is unclear. Here, mice were exposed to hypnotic doses of volatile anaesthetics, which increased the number of neurons expressing cFOS, a marker of neuronal activity, in the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus (VLPO), a sleep-promoting component of the arousal circuitry. Isoflurance depolarized a subset of VLPO neurons that normally fire during sleep by decreasing potassium conductance, indicating that volatile anaesthetics may exert their hypnotic effects by directly activating sleep-promoting neurons.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Moore, J. T. et al. Direct activation of sleep-promoting VLPO neurons by volatile anesthetics contributes to anesthetic hypnosis. Curr. Biol. 22, 2008–2016 (2012)

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  1. Darran Yates
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Yates, D. The hypnotic powers of anaesthetics. Nat Rev Neurosci 13, 817 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3400

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