IntroductionVolatile anesthetics, such as isoflurane, generate a state of unconsciousness and analgesia across the animal kingdom and are widely used in clinical settings. Yet, anesthetic mechanisms are poorly understood: the volatile anesthetics are so profligate in their potential effects that it has proven difficult to determine which actions are most causal at the systems level.MethodsTo test if specific cellular targets mediate the anesthetic effect across a complete, intact nervous system,