• Eric D Melonakos, Olivia A Moody, Ksenia Nikolaeva, Risako Kato, Christa J Nehs, and Ken Solt.
• From the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts (E.D.M., O.A.M., K.N., R.K., C.J.N., K.S.) the Department of Anaesthesia, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts (E.D.M., O.A.M., R.K., C.J.N., K.S.) the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences (E.D.M., O.A.M., R.K., C.J.N., K.S.) the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (K.N.), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• Anesthesiology. 2020 Jul 1; 133 (1): 193019-30.

AbstractThe neural circuits underlying the distinct endpoints that define general anesthesia remain incompletely understood. It is becoming increasingly evident, however, that distinct pathways in the brain that mediate arousal and pain are involved in various endpoints of general anesthesia. To critically evaluate this growing body of literature, familiarity with modern tools and techniques used to study neural circuits is essential. This Readers' Toolbox article describes four such techniques: (1) electrical stimulation, (2) local pharmacology, (3) optogenetics, and (4) chemogenetics. Each technique is explained, including the advantages, disadvantages, and other issues that must be considered when interpreting experimental results. Examples are provided of studies that probe mechanisms of anesthesia using each technique. This information will aid researchers and clinicians alike in interpreting the literature and in evaluating the utility of these techniques in their own research programs.

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