4 ms·

Interestingly, this is how (surgical) sedatives usually work. They increase the average activity of all neurons, so the brain is losing consciousness, because

• hulahoof 5y ago
  That sounds really interesting and I have not heard of this before, where would you suggest to start reading into surgical sedatives?
• oarabbus_ 5y ago
  This is not supported by the literature as far as I'm aware, do you have a source? Propofol, the most common adult surgical anesthetic, decreases neuronal activity via the mechanism of making it harder for action potentials to fire [0], and has a litany of effects few of which are excitatory , and generally correlated to decreasing cortical activity [1]. And ketamine, the most common pediatric and veterinary anesthetic, has a complex mechanism of action acting on GABA, NMDA, and other receptor systems, often with generally inhibitory characteristics [2] and with definite decrease in brain activity in animal models [3]. [0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430884/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430884/ [1] https://elifesciences.org/articles/60824#:~:text=The%20broad%20range%20of%20dynamics,with%20the%20slow%2Ddelta%20oscillation https://elifesciences.org/articles/60824#:~:text=The%20broad.... [2] https://journals.lww.com/anesthesia-analgesia/Fulltext/1998/11000/KetamineTeaching_an_Old_Drug_New_Tricks.39.aspx https://journals.lww.com/anesthesia-analgesia/Fulltext/1998/... [3] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0028390868900671 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/002839...
• hoseja 5y ago
  That sounds like it would scramble your brain long-term.