“Cellular Registration without Behavioral Recall of Olfactory Sensory Input under General Anesthesia” (Samuelsson AR, Brandon NR, Tang P, Xu Y. Anesthesiology 2014; 120(4):890-905) reveals new findings that suggest the brain receives and registers sensory information at the cellular level while anesthetized without behavioral reporting of the same information after recovering from anesthesia. In the study, rats were exposed to a specific odor while under general anesthesia. Examination of the brain tissue after they had recovered from anesthesia revealed evidence of cellular imprinting, even though the rats behaved as if they had never encountered the odor before.
The novel research uncovering important new information about the effect of anesthesia on the brain was the subject of a recent American Society of Anesthesiologists press release which has already resulted in publicity in media outlets such as Counsel & Heal; Science Daily; Newswise; Regator; Medical Xpress; Science, Space, & Robots; and EurekAlert.