RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 General anesthetics hyperpolarize neurons in the vertebrate central nervous system
JF Science
JO Science
FD American Association for the Advancement of Science
SP 1055
OP 1057
DO 10.1126/science.7112112
VO 217
IS 4564
A1 Nicoll, RA
A1 Madison, DV
YR 1982
UL http://science.sciencemag.org/content/217/4564/1055.abstract
AB The effect of general anesthetics on frog motoneurons and rat hippocampus pyramidal cells was examined with sucrose gap and intracellular recording, respectively. A number of volatile and intravenous anesthetics directly hyperpolarized the motoneurons. The potency of these agents in hyperpolarizing motoneurons was strongly correlated with their anesthetic potency. While the responses to barbiturates and alpha-chloralose were blocked by gamma-aminobutyric acid antagonists and were dependent on the chloride gradient, the responses to all the other anesthetics tested were generated by a separate mechanism. Intracellular recording from hippocampal pyramidal cells suggested that an increase in potassium conductance accounts for these responses. Such a nonsynaptic action would contribute to the decreased neuronal responsiveness observed for these compounds and thus to their anesthetic action.