Hello readers:
Nitrogen Narcosis
Nitrogen is a gaseous anesthetic, similar to ether (see below). All persons will fell the effect of compressed nitrogen, but not all at the same pressure. This is true also of anesthetics used during surgery. One reason that an anesthesiologist is always present with the patient is that the effect is variable.
Narcosis from General Anesthetics
How doe it happen? The molecular mechanism of action of most drugs is currently not known. This might surprise many readers. [The mechanism of DNA was evident from x-ray crystallography. This has not been true of other molecules, e.g., how enzymes actually work or the molecular working of drugs. ]:06:
It is known that general, inhalation anesthetics follow a relationship of lipid/water solubility ratios. [Inhalation anesthetics are, e.g., ether, chloroform, nitrous oxide, xenon, and nitrogen (under pressure).] This is really a simple relationship based on physical chemistry and does not necessarily imply a biophysical mechanism. Nonetheless, lipid membranes in the body were the focus of many theories for almost a century.
Possibly the most famous of these was the critical volume hypothesis which stated that anesthesia was the result of molecules dissolving in the membrane, increasing its volume, and causing the closing of ion channels. Conversely, some current theories focus on proteins, which historically was the first suggest site [1875]. This potency relationship of anesthetics follows the same pattern for the quenching of luminescence in the compounds for in fireflies (luciferin).
Dr Deco :doctor:
