What the actions of anaesthetics on fast synaptic transmission reveal about the molecular mechanism of anaesthesia

1. Synapses with the brain are important components of the networks respons ible for higher nervous function and current evidence suggests that general anaesthetics modulate synaptic transmission in the brain. 2. Analysis of a naesthetic action on these synapses not only defines the cellular mechanism s involved in anaesthesia but also reveals much about the molecular targets of anaesthetic action. 3. It appears that while anaesthetics affect a wide variety of processes, the most sensitive are those which are directly link ed to the activity of ligand-gated ion channels. Moreover, both single chan nel patch clamp studies and the molecular biological investigations of the sub-unit specificity of the sensitivity to anaesthetics indicate that anaes thetics interact directly with these functional proteins. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.