Time to Wake Up! The Ongoing Search for General Anesthetic Reversal Agents.

ABSTRACT: How general anesthetics work remains a topic of ongoing study. A parallel field of research has sought to identify methods to reverse general anesthesia. Reversal agents could shorten patients' recovery time and potentially reduce the risk of postoperative complications. An incomplete understanding of the mechanisms of general anesthesia has hampered the pursuit for reversal agents. Nevertheless, the search for reversal agents has furthered understanding of the mechanisms underlying general anesthesia. The study of potential reversal agents has highlighted the importance of rigorous criteria to assess recovery from general anesthesia in animal models, and has helped identify key arousal systems (e.g., cholinergic, dopaminergic, and orexinergic systems) relevant to emergence from general an

SUBMITTER: Cylinder DM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10868874 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature