Johnston M F, Simon S A, Ramón F
Nature. 1980 Jul 31;286(5772):498-500. doi: 10.1038/286498a0.
Studies of the interaction of anaesthetics with various preparations, from whole animals to organic solvents, have been continuing since Overton and Meyer found a correlation between anaesthetic potency and solubility in olive oil. Although the physiological basis of anaesthesia is far from clear, one popular hypothesis is that anaesthetics act primarily by interfering with the normal functioning of chemical synapses. This hypothesis is supported by experiments showing that these synapses are more sensitive to both local and general anaesthetics than are axons. The effects of anaesthetics on electrical synapses (gap-junctions or nexus) have not previously been studied. These ubiquitous structures, presumably responsible for cell-to-cell communication, are found in most vertebrate and invertebrate tissues. We report here the effects of several anaesthetics on electronic coupling between nerve cells, and show that electrical synapses are less sensitive to most anaesthetics than are chemical synapses and axonal membranes.
自从奥弗顿和迈耶发现麻醉效力与在橄榄油中的溶解度之间存在关联以来，关于麻醉剂与从全动物到有机溶剂等各种制剂相互作用的研究一直在持续。尽管麻醉的生理基础还远未明确，但一种流行的假说是，麻醉剂主要通过干扰化学突触的正常功能起作用。这一假说得到了实验的支持，这些实验表明，与轴突相比，这些突触对局部麻醉剂和全身麻醉剂都更敏感。麻醉剂对电突触（间隙连接或连接子）的影响此前尚未得到研究。这些普遍存在的结构大概负责细胞间通讯，在大多数脊椎动物和无脊椎动物组织中都能找到。我们在此报告几种麻醉剂对神经细胞间电偶联的影响，并表明电突触对大多数麻醉剂的敏感性低于化学突触和轴突膜。
