An article, published in Scientific American, explained the inner workings of anesthesia and the mystery that surrounds general anesthetics' molecular mechanisms.
Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic's Bill Perkins, MD, explained while anesthesia has been in use for 150-plus years, there are still questions about how general anesthetics works.
Dr. Perkins said the precise reason why inhalational anesthetics inhibits synaptic neurotransmission eludes researchers. He did say, however, that the anesthetics primarily affect ion channel function and the neurotransmitter receptor proteins in the nerve cells.
He attributed the mystery surrounding the anesthetic to two things: the volatility of anesthetics when it comes to binding to action sites and the lack of known information on membrane-based proteins.
Despite the limitations, Dr. Perkins is optimistic that tools now exist to debunk how general anesthesia works.