{"title":"Anesthetized animal experiments for neuroscience research","authors":"Shin Nagayama, Sanae Hasegawa-Ishii, Shu Kikuta","doi":"10.3389/fncir.2024.1426689","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Brain research has progressed with anesthetized animal experiments for a long time. Recent progress in research techniques allows us to measure neuronal activity in awake animals combined with behavioral tasks. The trends became more prominent in the last decade. This new research style triggers the paradigm shift in the research of brain science, and new insights into brain function have been revealed. It is reasonable to consider that awake animal experiments are more ideal for understanding naturalistic brain function than anesthetized ones. However, the anesthetized animal experiment still has advantages in some experiments. To take advantage of the anesthetized animal experiments, it is important to understand the mechanism of anesthesia and carefully handle the obtained data. In this minireview, we will shortly summarize the molecular mechanism of anesthesia in animal experiments, a recent understanding of the neuronal activities in a sensory system in the anesthetized animal brain, and consider the advantages and disadvantages of the anesthetized and awake animal experiments. This discussion will help us to use both research conditions in the proper manner.","PeriodicalId":12498,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Neural Circuits","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Frontiers in Neural Circuits","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fncir.2024.1426689","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"NEUROSCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Brain research has progressed with anesthetized animal experiments for a long time. Recent progress in research techniques allows us to measure neuronal activity in awake animals combined with behavioral tasks. The trends became more prominent in the last decade. This new research style triggers the paradigm shift in the research of brain science, and new insights into brain function have been revealed. It is reasonable to consider that awake animal experiments are more ideal for understanding naturalistic brain function than anesthetized ones. However, the anesthetized animal experiment still has advantages in some experiments. To take advantage of the anesthetized animal experiments, it is important to understand the mechanism of anesthesia and carefully handle the obtained data. In this minireview, we will shortly summarize the molecular mechanism of anesthesia in animal experiments, a recent understanding of the neuronal activities in a sensory system in the anesthetized animal brain, and consider the advantages and disadvantages of the anesthetized and awake animal experiments. This discussion will help us to use both research conditions in the proper manner.
期刊介绍:
Frontiers in Neural Circuits publishes rigorously peer-reviewed research on the emergent properties of neural circuits - the elementary modules of the brain. Specialty Chief Editors Takao K. Hensch and Edward Ruthazer at Harvard University and McGill University respectively, are supported by an outstanding Editorial Board of international experts. This multidisciplinary open-access journal is at the forefront of disseminating and communicating scientific knowledge and impactful discoveries to researchers, academics and the public worldwide.
Frontiers in Neural Circuits launched in 2011 with great success and remains a "central watering hole" for research in neural circuits, serving the community worldwide to share data, ideas and inspiration. Articles revealing the anatomy, physiology, development or function of any neural circuitry in any species (from sponges to humans) are welcome. Our common thread seeks the computational strategies used by different circuits to link their structure with function (perceptual, motor, or internal), the general rules by which they operate, and how their particular designs lead to the emergence of complex properties and behaviors. Submissions focused on synaptic, cellular and connectivity principles in neural microcircuits using multidisciplinary approaches, especially newer molecular, developmental and genetic tools, are encouraged. Studies with an evolutionary perspective to better understand how circuit design and capabilities evolved to produce progressively more complex properties and behaviors are especially welcome. The journal is further interested in research revealing how plasticity shapes the structural and functional architecture of neural circuits.