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Comment
. 2018 Nov;22(11):961-962.
doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2018.07.016. Epub 2018 Aug 10.

Using Anesthesia to Reveal the Elements of Consciousness

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Comment

Using Anesthesia to Reveal the Elements of Consciousness

Ken Solt. Trends Cogn Sci. 2018 Nov.

Abstract

General anesthesia provides an invaluable experimental tool to probe the essential neural circuits that underlie consciousness. A new study reports that cholinergic stimulation of the prefrontal cortex restores wake-like behaviors in anesthetized rodents, suggesting that cholinergic inputs to the prefrontal cortex play a fundamental role in modulating consciousness.

Keywords: acetylcholine; norepinephrine; prefrontal cortex; sevoflurane.

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References

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