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Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Topical Airway Anesthesia for Awake-endoscopic Intubation Using the Spray-as-you-go Technique with High Oxygen Flow
Published on: January 13, 2017
ANESTHESIA PRODUCED BY DISTILLED WATER
1Laboratories of The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.
Abstract:
Cells of Nitella flexilis Ag. lose their power to respond to ordinary electrical stimulation after 2 or 3 days in distilled water. It returns after a day or so when they are replaced in their normal environment, in a suitable nutrient solution, or in a dilute solution of CaCl(2). Here anesthesia seems to be produced by removing something from the cell and this raises the question whether other cases of anesthesia may be explained in the same way. The antagonistic action of calcium, in some cases at least, appears to depend on its power to prevent substances from leaching out of the cell.
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