[Unincorporated Channel Meeting (UCM)--basic research on mechanisms of anesthesia]

Basic research on mechanisms of anesthesia in Germany has proved to be successful during the last years as demonstrated by a number of national and international publications and presentation. However, most of the groups working in this field lack a "crucial mass". In order to improve this situation the Unincorporated Channel Meeting (UCM) was introduced by Kochs and Urban in 1995. The meeting was established to provide a basis for the exchange of ideas and methods for all scientists interested in mechanisms of anaesthesia and not only anesthesiologists. Currently about ten groups are actively participating at the semi-annual meetings and the discussion group in the World Wide Web. The mini-symposium was selected from papers presented at the March 1999 meeting in Hamburg/Germany and demonstrates the wide range of topics that were discussed including patch-clamp studies and whole animal research. The publication of this mini-symposium intends to provoke thoughts about the mechanisms of anaesthesia and to create interest in the scientific approach to these problems.