Effect of anesthetic on paramecium (function)

[granpa]

Anesthetic action of volatile anesthetics by using Paramecium as a model

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22684567

In conclusion, the findings in our studies suggested that the single-celled Paramecium could be anesthetized with clinical concentrations of volatile anesthetics and therefore be utilized as a model organism to study the mechanisms of volatile anesthetics.

[Dirt Grinder]

That sure sent a tingle up my leg.

[WildCardSteve1]

I gather the mechanism of action is the anaesthetic dissolving in the membrane of the cell, disrupting ion transport.


Similar to the action of alcohol, and sedative hypnotics on the human brain.


There's some interesting work correlating sedative/hypnotic activity with the water/oleyl alcohol distribution function.