Health and Disability

A new study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation demonstrates that general anesthesia results in sustained activation of receptors that inhibit brain function.

Beverly Orser and colleagues at the University of Toronto found that a single dose of anesthetic impaired memory in mice for up to 3 days. Mice had reduced synaptic plasticity due to increased activation of γ-aminobutyric acid type A receptors (GABAARs). Importantly, inhibition of GABAARs reversed memory defects in animals given anesthesia.