Xenon anesthesia: shedding light on brain dynamics and clinical niches

Abstract

The present review integrates recent mechanistic and clinical advances to link multiscale mechanisms from membrane biophysics to molecular targets and large-scale network behavior; to summarize human neurophysiological signatures during xenon-associated transitions in responsiveness, and to critically appraise where contemporary evidence supports or fails to support neuroprotection and improved postoperative neurocognitive outcomes.