A THERMOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF INHALATIONAL ANESTHETICS

The mechanism of the anesthetic process is of interest both to the cli nician and to the pharmacologist. However, this is still an unsettled issue and a multitude of models have been proposed for the process. No ticing that most models propose either a molecular perturbation by the agents or an effect on some colligative property, we explore in this article the thermodynamical consequences of these postulations. Compar ison of these with experimental findings then made. The comparison sho ws the inconsistency of many of the models with the facts: it refutes the long accepted conviction, culminated in the 'unitary hypothesis', that general anesthetics act not at a particular receptor site but inv ariably on all. Some consequences of this finding are demonstrated. (i i) it implies that a simple phospholipid medium is not feasible as an anesthetic site. (iii) it infers that proteins do have the properties required from anesthetic sites.