Putative anesthetic mechanisms from analyses of anesthetic-related genes in Drosophila

Anesthetic mechanisms, especially loss of consciousness have not been fully understood yet although general anesthetics have been used in clinic anywhere in the whole world and more than 150 years. Recently, a few searches of the genes that encode target proteins of general anesthetics have been performed. We separated mutations in the genes that altered sensitivity to diethylether anesthesia and have identified three candidate genes that are related to the anesthetic susceptibility using molecular genetics of Drosophila melanogaster. They are sodium channel, calreticulin and chaperonin genes isolated from the ether-sensitive mutants para^hd838, eth^as311 and eth^as307, respectively. In this paper, the three genes in relation to anesthetic sensitivities of Drosophila and those genes of other model animals are mentioned simply. General anesthetics may act on ion channels and ligand receptor molecules that are involved in neural transmission of synapses, and relate with adhesion and movement of neurons through the peripheral molecules of the cytoskeleton. Each general anesthetic acts on target molecules in its characteristic manner to make weakness of dynamics in the nerve cells and finally to pause them.