Nature 213, 938 - 939 (04 March 1967); doi:10.1038/213938a0

Electrolyte Imbalance as the Mechanism for Inert Gas Narcosis and Anaesthesia

P. B. BENNETT^* & A. J. HAYWARD

Royal Navy Physiological Laboratory, Alverstoke, Hampshire.
^*Present address: Defence Research Medical Laboratories, P.O. Box 62, Station K, Toronto 12, Canada.

THE mechanism by which the volatile anaesthetics induce narcosis and anaesthesia remains the subject of speculation. Similarly, there has been much controversy concerning the mechanisms by which raised pressures of air or the chemically inert noble gases xenon, krypton, argon, neon and helium produce euphoria or loss of consciousness. Among the possibilities considered which could interfere with cerebral electrical activity have been a histotoxic hypoxia, depression of metabolism, membrane stabilization or block, interference with the sodium pump mechanism, increased production of inhibitor substance, interference with adenosine triphosphate production and the formation of clathrates^1–6.

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