![theatlantic:
The Mystery Behind Anesthesia Mapping
How our neural circuits change under the influence of anesthesia could shed light on one of neuroscience’s most perplexing riddles: consciousness.
As an anesthesiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), [Emery] Brown is constant witness to one of the most profound and mysterious feats of modern medicine. Every day, nearly 60,000 patients in the United States undergo general anesthesia, enabling them to survive even the grisliest operations unaware and free of pain.
But though doctors have been putting people under for more than 150 years, what happens in the brain during general anesthesia is a mystery. Scientists don’t know much about the extent to which these drugs tap into the same brain circuitry we use when we sleep, or how being anesthetized differs from other ways of losing consciousness, such as slipping into a coma following an injury. Are parts of the brain truly shutting off, or do they simply stop communicating with each other? How is being anesthetized different from a state of hypnosis or deep meditation? And what happens in the brain in the transition between consciousness and unconsciousness? “We know we can get you in and out of this safely,” Brown says, “but we still can’t quite tell you how it works.”
Brown, who is also a neuroscientist and professor at MIT, aims to transform anesthesia from a solely clinical tool into a powerful instrument for studying the most basic questions about the brain. Understanding what happens to the brain under anesthetic drugs, he believes, will help make anesthesia safer and more effective, with fewer side effects. It could also lead to novel treatments for coma and other brain conditions—and to insights into fundamental questions in neuroscience, including the nature of consciousness itself. “Anesthesiology is a form of neuroscience,” says George Mashour, an anesthesiologist and neuroscientist at the University of Michigan. “And what we do on a daily basis is modulate virtually every aspect of the nervous system.”
A fantastic feature on the hidden mysteries of brain. Read the whole thing at Technology Review
Above: Emery Brown’s quest to understand how anesthesia affects the brain could provide crucial clues about what goes wrong in certain disorders. Credit: Mark Ostow](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lwv7lotPDE1qcokc4o1_500.jpg)
Reblogged from theatlantic
The Mystery Behind Anesthesia Mapping
How our neural circuits change under the influence of anesthesia could shed light on one of neuroscience’s most perplexing riddles: consciousness.
As an anesthesiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), [Emery] Brown is constant witness to one of the most profound and mysterious feats of modern medicine. Every day, nearly 60,000 patients in the United States undergo general anesthesia, enabling them to survive even the grisliest operations unaware and free of pain.
But though doctors have been putting people under for more than 150 years, what happens in the brain during general anesthesia is a mystery. Scientists don’t know much about the extent to which these drugs tap into the same brain circuitry we use when we sleep, or how being anesthetized differs from other ways of losing consciousness, such as slipping into a coma following an injury. Are parts of the brain truly shutting off, or do they simply stop communicating with each other? How is being anesthetized different from a state of hypnosis or deep meditation? And what happens in the brain in the transition between consciousness and unconsciousness? “We know we can get you in and out of this safely,” Brown says, “but we still can’t quite tell you how it works.”
Brown, who is also a neuroscientist and professor at MIT, aims to transform anesthesia from a solely clinical tool into a powerful instrument for studying the most basic questions about the brain. Understanding what happens to the brain under anesthetic drugs, he believes, will help make anesthesia safer and more effective, with fewer side effects. It could also lead to novel treatments for coma and other brain conditions—and to insights into fundamental questions in neuroscience, including the nature of consciousness itself. “Anesthesiology is a form of neuroscience,” says George Mashour, an anesthesiologist and neuroscientist at the University of Michigan. “And what we do on a daily basis is modulate virtually every aspect of the nervous system.”
A fantastic feature on the hidden mysteries of brain. Read the whole thing at Technology Review
Above: Emery Brown’s quest to understand how anesthesia affects the brain could provide crucial clues about what goes wrong in certain disorders. Credit: Mark Ostow
