A Sleep-Specific Midbrain Target for Sevoflurane Anesthesia.

Sevoflurane has been the most widely used inhaled anesthetics with a favorable recovery profile; however, the precise mechanisms underlying its anesthetic action are still not completely understood. Here the authors show that sevoflurane activates a cluster of urocortin 1 (UCN1 )/cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART ) neurons in the midbrain involved in its anesthesia. Furthermore, growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR) is highly enriched in sevoflurane-activated UCN1 /CART cells and is necessary for sleep induction. Blockade of GHSR abolishes the excitatory effect of sevoflurane on UCN1 /CART neurons and attenuates its anesthetic effect. Collectively, their data suggest that anesthetic action of sevoflurane necessitates the GHSR activation in midbrain UCN1 /CART neurons, which provides a novel target including the nucleus and receptor in the field of anesthesia.