Penn Chemistry and Perelman School of Medicine researchers trying to understand the mechanisms through which anesthetics work to elicit the response that puts millions of Americans to sleep for surgeries each day. A recent study looked at ketamine, an anesthetic discovered in the 1960s and more recently prescribed as an anti-depressant at low doses, and has identified an entirely new class of receptors that ketamine binds in the body, which may underlie its diverse actions. The work is published in this week’s issue of Science Signaling.
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