FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany: While the mechanism underlying loss of consciousness in anaesthesia is not known, it has been hypothesised that it is due to interrupted transmission on nerve fibres coupling brain areas, affecting their ability to communicate with each other. Neuroscientists have now discovered that certain areas of the brain generate less information under anaesthesia. The drop in information could be a consequence of reduced local information generation in the brain.
Researchers at Goethe University Frankfurt and the Max Planck Institute in Göttingen in Germany and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the US have now investigated this new hypothesis. The research team, led by Patricia Wollstadt and Dr Flavio Fröhlich, examined sources in ferret brain areas from which less information was transmitted under anaesthesia.
They found that information generation under anaesthesia was far more affected there than in the target brain areas to which the information was transferred. This indicates that it is the information available in the source area that determines information transfer and not a disruption in signal transmission. With the latter being the case, a far greater reduction could be expected in the target areas, since less information arrives there.
“The relevance of this alternative explanation goes beyond anesthesia research,” said Wollstadt, “since each and every examination of neuronal information transfer should categorically take into consideration how much information is available locally and is therefore also transferable.”
The study, titled “Breakdown of local information processing may underlie isoflurane anesthesia effects”, was published online on 1 June in the PLOS Computational Biology journal.
Tags:
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark., U.S.: Food leaves permanent traces on teeth. Examining these marks—or microwear—a team of researchers has documented the effects of ...
BERLIN, Germany: For certain animals, the loss of teeth does not always pose a problem: sharks and crocodiles have the ability to regrow their teeth ...
PENNSYLVANIA, U.S.: Child obesity throughout the Western world is becoming more of a common problem. In a new study that may help our comprehension of the ...
STATE COLLEGE, Pa., U.S.: For a long time, people have known that individual differences in taste and smell can have an influence on liking or disliking a ...
DUNEDIN, New Zealand: In a new study researchers have found a connection between diets with high intakes of fibre and wholegrain foods and a reduction in ...
DUNEDIN, New Zealand: Dental anxiety continues to be a significant impediment to patients receiving dental care, and minimally invasive approaches have ...
Carrying on the conversation from the first part on the ongoing fight for improved safety in anaesthesia in dentistry, Dental Tribune International again ...
Last April, Dental Tribune International first spoke with Drs Rita Agarwal and James Tom, paediatric anaesthesiologist and dentist anaesthesiologist, ...
Many clinicians have experienced the frustration of being unable to anaesthetise a patient sufficiently despite trying various approaches or using a ...
NEWCASTLE, UK: Given the abundance of dietary recommendations that can be accessed these days, understanding what we should and should not eat can be a ...
Live webinar
Tue. 6 August 2024
6:00 pm EST (New York)
Live webinar
Tue. 6 August 2024
8:00 pm EST (New York)
Dr. Cameron Shahbazian DMD MBA
Live webinar
Tue. 13 August 2024
7:00 pm EST (New York)
Live webinar
Wed. 14 August 2024
12:30 pm EST (New York)
Live webinar
Wed. 21 August 2024
9:00 am EST (New York)
Dr. Jim Lai DMD, MSc(Perio), EdD, FRCD(C)
Live webinar
Thu. 22 August 2024
4:00 pm EST (New York)
Live webinar
Wed. 28 August 2024
8:00 pm EST (New York)
To post a reply please login or register