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Anesthesia may mimic deep sleep

The brain, under anesthesia, responds to stimuli as it does in the deepest part of sleep, U.S. researchers say.

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison used transcranial magnetic stimulation, a non-invasive technique to stimulate the brain cortical neurons from the scalp, in combination with electroencephalography, which recorded the transcranial magnetic stimulation-evoked brain responses in patients receiving anesthetic midazolam used in “conscious sedation.”