Search Results for: anesthesia

Pathways: The Anesthesia Issue

Cover of Pathways student magazine. NIGMS and Scholastic bring you Pathways: The Anesthesia Issue, which explores pain and the science behind anesthesia—the medical treatment that prevents patients from feeling pain during surgery and other procedures. Without anesthesia, many life-saving medical procedures would be impossible. Pathways, designed for students in grades 6 through 12, aims to …

Anesthesia and Brain Cells: A Temporary Disruption?

Hippocampal neuron in culture. Dendrites are green, dendritic spines are red, and DNA in cell’s nucleus is blue. Credit: Shelley Halpain, University of California, San Diego. Anesthetic drugs are vital to modern medicine, allowing patients to undergo even the longest and most invasive surgeries without consciousness or pain. Unfortunately, studies have raised the concern that …

Science Snippet: Brush Up on Biofilms

A biofilm is a highly organized community of microorganisms that develops naturally on certain surfaces. Typically, biofilms are made up of microbes and an extracellular matrix that they produce. This matrix can include polysaccharides (chains of sugars), proteins, lipids, DNA, and other molecules. The matrix gives the biofilm structure and helps it stick to a …