The Mouse as a Model Organism for Assessing Anesthetic Sensitivity.

The mouse has been used in many medical fields as a powerful model to reveal the genetic basis of human physiology and disease. The past two decades have witnessed an enormous wealth of genetic and informatic resources dedicated to this humble organism. With the ongoing revolution in mapping neural circuitry governing behavior, the mouse is an ideal model organism poised to unravel the mysteries of general anesthetic action. This chapter will describe and provide guidelines for anesthetic phenotyping in the mouse including both motor-dependent and motor-independent assessments.