Abstract
Anesthesia, the term was coined by Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1846, to portray insensibility to pain induced by some drug, shortly after the demonstration of loss of consciousness by inhaled ether during a surgical procedure. General anesthesia, for almost two centuries (175 years), has made scientists wonder that how under its influence a person loses consciousness and his body becomes insensitive to pain yet the body continues performing normal vital physiologic functions. This clearly demonstrates that the central nervous system (CNS) is their primary site of action, where the nerve transmission is reduced at the synapses which release the neurotransmitters for action in the body. The only information researchers had was that general anesthesia works by suspending signals from the brain and body and blocks any record of pain or event during this period.
Highlights
General anesthetic agents, administered through breathing are a collection of various chemically volatile hydrophobic molecules and most commonly used are lipid-soluble and structurally related to ether
The action of local anesthetics, is quite clear that they take up a different mechanism employing a different class of pharmacologic agents, such as Novocain
By binding to sodium ion channel in the cell membrane of nerve cells it inhibits its function by blocking the nerve transmission to pain centers in the central nervous system
Summary
General anesthetic agents, administered through breathing are a collection of various chemically volatile hydrophobic molecules and most commonly used are lipid-soluble and structurally related to ether. The action of local anesthetics, is quite clear that they take up a different mechanism employing a different class of pharmacologic agents, such as Novocain. The researchers Richard Lerner, MD, and molecular biologist Scott Hansen, resolved the century-old scientific enigma through the discovery of the mechanism of action of anesthesia[1].
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