Skip Navigation



BJA Advance Access published online on January 8, 2007
British Journal of Anaesthesia, doi:10.1093/bja/ael332
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
98/2/228    most recent
ael332v1
Right arrow E-Letters: Submit a response to the article
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Vahle-Hinz, C.
Right arrow Articles by Kochs, E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Vahle-Hinz, C.
Right arrow Articles by Kochs, E.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Board of Management and Trustees of the British Journal of Anaesthesia 2007. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Corresponding minimum alveolar concentrations of isoflurane and isoflurane/nitrous oxide have divergent effects on thalamic nociceptive signalling

C. Vahle-Hinz1,*, O. Detsch2, C. Hackner2 and E. Kochs2

1 Institut für Neurophysiologie und Pathophysiologie, Zentrum für Experimentelle Medizin, Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
2 Klinik für Anaesthesiologie, Technische Universität München, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Munich, Germany

* Corresponding author: Institut für Neurophysiologie und Pathophysiologie, Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany. E-mail: vahle-hinz{at}uke.uni-hamburg.de

BACKGROUND: Suppression of nociceptive signalling in the thalamus is considered to contribute significantly to the anaesthetic state. Assuming additivity of anaesthetic mixtures, our study assessed the effects of corresponding minimum alveolar concentrations (MACs) of isoflurane and isoflurane/nitrous oxide on thalamic nociceptive signalling.

METHODS: Nociceptive response activity (elicited by controlled radiant heat stimuli applied to cutaneous receptive fields) of single thalamic neurons was compared in rats anaesthetized at ~1.1 and ~1.4 MAC isoflurane with that at ~1.1 and ~1.4 MAC isoflurane/nitrous oxide.

RESULTS: Under baseline anaesthesia (~0.9 MAC isoflurane), noxious stimulation elicited excitatory responses in all neurons (n = 19). These responses were uniformly suppressed at ~1.1 and ~1.4 MAC isoflurane. In contrast, at ~1.1 and ~1.4 MAC isoflurane/nitrous oxide, excitatory responses no different to baseline were still present in 64 and 37% of the neurons, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: These data demonstrate a pronounced nitrous oxide-induced response variability. It appears that, with respect to thalamic transfer of nociceptive information, the interaction of isoflurane and nitrous oxide may not be compatible with the concept of additivity and that the antinociceptive potency of nitrous oxide is considerably less than previously reported.

Keywords: anaesthetics, isoflurane; anaesthetics, nitrous oxide; brain, thalamus, nociception; potency, anaesthetic, MAC


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Neurosci.Home page
P. M. Joksovic, M. Weiergraber, W. Lee, H. Struck, T. Schneider, and S. M. Todorovic
Isoflurane-Sensitive Presynaptic R-Type Calcium Channels Contribute to Inhibitory Synaptic Transmission in the Rat Thalamus
J. Neurosci., February 4, 2009; 29(5): 1434 - 1445.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.