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British Journal of Anaesthesia, 2001, Vol. 86, No. 5 607-617
© 2001 The Board of Management and Trustees of the British Journal of Anaesthesia

Editorial

Editorial I

Mapping the anatomy of unconsciousness—imaging anaesthetic action in the brain

D.M. Menon

The issue of how and where general anaesthetics act in the brain continues to intrigue and occupy researchers. Studies that address these issues can be focused at different levels. One reductionist approach is to investigate anaesthetic interactions with specific receptors or other molecular targets in a variety of models.1–6 While such studies are important, they are difficult to interpret in the context of functional neuroanatomical models of consciousness.7 8 An alternative approach is to consider the differential effects of anaesthesia on different brain areas, with a view to identifying specific brain regions that are important for anaesthesia (and by inference, for the generation of consciousness).

 Such an assessment of spatial variations in general anaesthetic effects in the brain is not easy. While clinical measurement of anaesthetic effect has substantially depended on measuring spontaneous or evoked electrical responses,7 current implementations cannot provide the tomographic visualization of subcortical physiology required to understand sites . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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