Departament de Química Física and Institut de Química Teòrica i Computacional, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
PLoS One. 2013;8(1):e52631. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0052631. Epub 2013 Jan 2.
The molecular mechanism of general anesthesia is still a controversial issue. Direct effect by linking of anesthetics to proteins and indirect action on the lipid membrane properties are the two hypotheses in conflict. Atomistic simulations of different lipid membranes subjected to the effect of small volatile organohalogen compounds are used to explore plausible lipid-mediated mechanisms. Simulations of homogeneous membranes reveal that electrostatic potential and lateral pressure transversal profiles are affected differently by chloroform (anesthetic) and carbon tetrachloride (non-anesthetic). Simulations of structured membranes that combine ordered and disordered regions show that chloroform molecules accumulate preferentially in highly disordered lipid domains, suggesting that the combination of both lateral and transversal partitioning of chloroform in the cell membrane could be responsible of its anesthetic action.
全麻的分子机制仍是一个有争议的问题。直接作用于蛋白质的连接和对脂质膜性质的间接作用是相互冲突的两个假说。不同脂质膜在小分子挥发性有机卤化物作用下的原子模拟被用来探索可能的脂质介导机制。同质膜的模拟表明，氯仿（麻醉剂）和四氯化碳（非麻醉剂）对静电势和横向压力的影响不同。有序和无序区域相结合的结构膜的模拟表明，氯仿分子优先聚集在高度无序的脂质区域，这表明氯仿在细胞膜中的横向和纵向分配的结合可能是其麻醉作用的原因。
