HOW HAS MOLECULAR PHARMACOLOGY CONTRIBUTED TO OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE MECHANISM(S) OF GENERAL-ANESTHESIA

This review discusses the mechanism(s) of general anesthesia from a ph armacological viewpoint; in particular, the ability of drugs to produc e many different effects is emphasised, The problems of experimental m easurement of general anesthesia are discussed, and the possibilities for antagonism and potentiation of anesthesia considered, Physicochemi cal studies on anesthesia are described, as are the advancement of ide as beyond consideration of lipids and proteins as separate sites of ac tion. The importance of studies on different areas of the brain is hig hlighted, and the review finishes with a survey of the effects of gene ral anesthetics on synaptic transmission which emphasises the problems of extrapolation from in vitro to in vivo.