Misha Perouansky

Research Description:

We have observed that commonly used volatile general anesthetics (VGA) affect outcomes in a model of blunt trauma with traumatic brain injury (bTBI) model implemented in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. While trauma in fruit flies does not equal trauma in humans, all metazoans had to evolve responses to life-threatening injuries and successful responses have been conserved with modifications throughout evolution. Because of evolutionary conservation, findings initially made in flies have made possible clinically important discoveries in higher organisms. Specifically for humans, these discoveries have included Hox gene control of body plan development; Toll pathway mediation of the innate immune response to pathogens; period and clock gene coordination of circadian rhythms; chromatin-based regulation of epigenetic inheritance; and Wnt, Notch, and Ras signal transduction pathway influence on cancers. Furthermore, results from flies have been successfully translated to humans even in cases where findings were based on studies of tissues such as fat bodies, salivary glands, imaginal discs, and wings that have no direct counterpart in mammals. The fly brain, in contrast, has a direct counterpart in the mammalian brain and similarly mediates systemic responses to injury. As a result, we have every reason to believe that key cellular mechanisms activated by anesthetics will be conserved between flies and humans, as evidenced by our existing data showing that pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties of anesthetics observed in flies are similar to those observed in humans (e.g., our finding that mutations in mitochondrial genes in flies cause hypersensitivity to anesthetics similar to an analogous mutation in humans) (Olufs Z. et al. SciRep 2018). The fruit fly model, with its fully sequenced genome, extensive catalogue of available mutations and an unparalleled genetic toolbox allows far greater experimental flexibility than models in higher animals.

Representative Publications:

Search PubMed for more publications by Misha Perouansky

“A primordial target: Mitochondria mediate both primary and collateral anesthetic effects of volatile anesthetics.”
Perouansky M, Johnson-Schlitz D, Sedensky MM, Morgan PG,  Experimental Biology And Medicine (Maywood, N.J.)  Vol 248  Iss 7  Pages 545-552  2023 Apr  PMID: 37208922  PMCID: PMC10350799

“Casting a Wider Net When Fishing for Mechanisms of Anesthesia.”
Voss L, Sleigh JW, Perouansky M,  Anesthesiology  Vol 138  Iss 6  Pages 585-586  2023 Jun 1  PMID: 37158651

“The Serial Anesthesia Array for the High-Throughput Investigation of Volatile Agents Using Drosophila melanogaster.”
Olufs ZPG, Johnson-Schlitz D, Wassarman DA, Perouansky M,  Journal Of Visualized Experiments : JoVE  Iss 192  2023 Feb 24  PMID: 36912551  PMCID: PMC10187765

“Mutations in Complex I of the Mitochondrial Electron-Transport Chain Sensitize the Fruit Fly (Drosophila melanogaster) to Ether and Non-Ether Volatile Anesthetics.”
Borchardt LA, Scharenbrock AR, Olufs ZPG, Wassarman DA, Perouansky M,  International Journal Of Molecular Sciences  Vol 24  Iss 3  2023 Jan 17  PMID: 36768163  PMCID: PMC9915120

“Anesthetic Preconditioning of Traumatic Brain Injury Is Ineffective in a Drosophila Model of Obesity.”
Johnson-Schlitz D, Fischer JA, Schiffman HJ, Scharenbrock AR, Olufs ZPG, Wassarman DA, et al. (incl. Perouansky M)  The Journal Of Pharmacology And Experimental Therapeutics  Vol 381  Iss 3  Pages 229-235  2022 Jun  PMID: 35347062  PMCID: PMC9190232

“Isoflurane Potentiation of GABA(A) Receptors Is Reduced but Not Eliminated by the β3(N265M) Mutation.”
Lor C, Perouansky M, Pearce RA,  International Journal Of Molecular Sciences  Vol 21  Iss 24  2020 Dec 15  PMID: 33333797  PMCID: PMC7765171

“Interactions among Genetic Background, Anesthetic Agent, and Oxygen Concentration Shape Blunt Traumatic Brain Injury Outcomes in Drosophila melanogaster.”
Scharenbrock AR, Schiffman HJ, Olufs ZPG, Wassarman DA, Perouansky M,  International Journal Of Molecular Sciences  Vol 21  Iss 18  2020 Sep 21  PMID: 32967238  PMCID: PMC7555144

“Ageing and genetic background influence anaesthetic effects in a D. melanogaster model of blunt trauma with brain injury(†).”
Schiffman HJ, Olufs ZPG, Lasarev MR, Wassarman DA, Perouansky M,  British Journal Of Anaesthesia  Vol 125  Iss 1  Pages 77-86  2020 Jul  PMID: 32466842  PMCID: PMC7418562

“Wake Up, Neurons! Astrocytes Calling.”
Perouansky M, MacIver MB, Pearce RA,  Anesthesiology  Vol 130  Iss 3  Pages 361-363  2019 Mar  PMID: 30707121  PMCID: PMC6375768

“In Response.”
Perouansky M,  Anesthesia And Analgesia  Vol 127  Iss 5  Pages e92-e93  2018 Nov  PMID: 30234541

“In Response.”
Perouansky M, Wassarman DA,  Anesthesia And Analgesia  Vol 127  Iss 5  Pages e85  2018 Nov  PMID: 30222654