PMID: 11605933Oct 19, 2001Paper

Nitrogen at raised pressure interacts with the GABA(A) receptor to produce its narcotic pharmacological effect in the rat

Anesthesiology
H N DavidJ H Abraini

Abstract

Strong evidence supports the concept that conventional anesthetics, including inhalational agents and inert gases, such as xenon and nitrous oxide, interact directly with ion channel neurotransmitter receptors. However, there is no evidence that nitrogen, which only exhibits narcotic potency at increased pressure, may act by a similar mechanism. We compared the inhibitory and sedative effects of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and nitrogen pressure on locomotor activity and striatal dopamine release in freely moving rats and investigated the pharmacologic properties of the GABA-induced and nitrogen pressure-induced narcotic action using the highly selective competitive GABA(A) receptor antagonist bicuculine. Intracerebroventricular GABA infusion up to 60 micromol or exposure to nitrogen pressure up to 3 MPa decreased to a similar extent striatal dopamine release (r2= 0.899, df = 4, P < 0.01) and locomotor activity (r2 = 0.996, df = 28, P < 0.001). However, both agents only showed small effects on striatal dopamine release, reducing dopamine currents by only 12-13% at sedative concentrations. Pretreatment with bicuculline at 0.5, 1, and 2.5 pmol reduced the sedative action of GABA on locomotor activity by 10, 20, and 41%, respect...Continue Reading

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Citations

Aug 2, 2011·Biochemistry Research International·Lemont B Kier
Mar 5, 2004·Paediatric Anaesthesia·Grzegorz Bujok, Piotr Knapik
Apr 7, 2017·Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology and Therapeutics·Sandrine LemoineAlain Manrique
Nov 22, 2016·Medical Gas Research·Jacques H AbrainiJean-Jacques Risso
Oct 24, 2018·European Journal of Applied Physiology·Monica RoccoUNKNOWN ROAD Project Investigators

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