To make the discovery, scientists recorded brain activity in rodents who had been administered the anesthetic isoflurane. They then decreased the amount of anesthetic administered to each patient and observed the subsequent electrical patterns test subjects’ brains produced on the way back to consciousness.
In order to regain consciousness, researchers observed brains had to pass through consistent activity patterns, which were consistent across rodents under all levels of anesthetic.
“Recovery from anesthesia is not simply the result of the anesthetic ‘wearing off,’ but also of the brain finding its way back through a maze of possible activity states to those that allow conscious experience,” said Dr. Andrew Hudson, an assistant professor in anesthesiology at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, of the findings, in a report from Science 2.0.
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