A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America claims that general anesthetics do not alter bilayer properties that induce anesthesia.
New York City-based Weill Cornell Medicine Senior Researcher Karl Herold, MD, PhD, examined the effects of chemically diverse general anesthetics and non-anesthetics on lipid bilayer properties through the use of a fluorescence assay that senses drug-induced changes.
Here's what they found.
1. None of the tested membranes produced significant changes of the bilayer properties.
2. Supra-anesthetic concentrations also caused minimal effects.
3. Toxic concentrations of anesthetics altered the lipid bilayer properties.
Dr. Herold concluded, "General anesthetics have minimal effects on bilayer properties at clinically relevant concentrations, indicating that anesthetic effects on ion channel function are not bilayer-mediated but rather involve direct protein interactions."