Leading investigators critically evaluate the latest information on how anesthetics work at the molecular, cellular, organ, and whole animal level. These distinguished experts review anesthetic effects on memory, consciousness, and movement and spell out in detail both the anatomic structures and physiological processes that are their likely targets, as well as the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which they operate. Comprehensive and authoritative, Neural Mechanisms of Anesthesia draws together and critically reviews all the recent research on anesthetic mechanisms, highlighting the precise routes along which these substances operate, and how this deeper understanding will lead to the design of effective drugs free ofundesirable side effects.

Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Klappentext
Although anesthetics have been used successfully for over 150 years, their mechanisms of action are little understood, a fact that significantly limits our ability to design new and safer agents. In Neural Mechanisms of Anesthesia, leading investigators critically evaluate the latest information on how anesthetics work at the molecular, cellular, organ, and whole animal level. These distinguished experts review anesthetic effects on memory, consciousness, and movement and spell out in detail both the anatomic structures and physiological processes that are their likely targets, as well as the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which they operate. They also discuss drugs that are not truly general anesthetics, but are frequently used in clinical practice and can affect the action of general anesthetics (e.g., local anesthetics, opiates, neuromuscular blocking drugs).
Comprehensive and authoritative, Neural Mechanisms of Anesthesia draws together and critically reviews all the recent research on anesthetic mechanisms, highlighting the precise routes along which these substances operate, and how this deeper understanding will lead to the design of effective drugs free of undesirable side effects.

Inhalt
I. Introduction.- 1 The Development of Concepts of Mechanisms of Anesthesia.- II. Anesthesia, Consciousness, and Memory.- 2 Mechanisms of Consciousness with Emphasis on the Cerebral Cortical Component.- 3 Anesthesia Meets Memory: Tools for Critical Appraisal.- III. Sleep, Coma, and AnesthesiaSimilarities and Differences.- 4 Sleep and Anesthesia.- 5 Possible Relationships of Anesthetic Coma and Pathological Disorders of Consciousness.- IV. Neural Mechanisms.- 6 Cerebral CortexAnesthetic Action on the Electroencephalogram: Cellular and Synaptic Mechanisms and Clinical Monitoring.- 7 Cerebral Mechanisms of Analgesia and Anesthesia in Humans Elucidated by In Vivo Brain Imaging.- 8 Thalamus.- 9 The Hippocampus.- 10 Anesthetic Effects on the Reticular Formation, Brainstem and Central Nervous System Arousal.- 11 Anesthesia, the Spinal Cord and Motor Responses to Noxious Stimulation.- 12 Spinal CordDorsal Horn.- 13 Spinal Cord: Anesthetic Actions on Motor Neurons.- 14 Simple Genetic Models for Anesthetic Action.- 15 Genetic Dissection of Anesthetic Action.- V. Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms.- 16 General Anesthetic Effects on GABAA Receptors.- 17 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors and Anesthetics.- 18 Actions of General Anesthetic on Voltage-Gated Ion Channels.- 19 Glutamate Receptors: Physiology and Anesthetic Pharmacology.- 20 General Anesthetic Effects on Glycine Receptors.- 21 Presynaptic Actions of General Anesthetics.- 22 The Meyer-Overton Relationship and Its Exceptions.- 23 Protein Models.- 24 The Opioid Receptors.- 25 Local Anesthetics.- 26 Neuromuscular Blocking Agents and General Anesthesia.- VI. Future Research.- 27 The Future of Anesthetic Mechanisms Research.