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Updated: Mar 29, 2026

Optogenetic Activation of Afferent Pathways in Brain Slices and Modulation of Responses by Volatile Anesthetics
Published on: July 23, 2020
Mechanistic Insights into the Modulation of Voltage-Gated Ion Channels by Inhalational Anesthetics
Manuel Covarrubias1, Annika F Barber2, Vincenzo Carnevale3
1Department of Neuroscience and Farber Institute for Neuroscience, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Abstract:
General anesthesia is a relatively safe medical procedure, which for nearly 170 years has allowed life saving surgical interventions in animals and people. However, the molecular mechanism of general anesthesia continues to be a matter of importance and debate. A favored hypothesis proposes that general anesthesia results from direct multisite interactions with multiple and diverse ion channels in the brain. Neurotransmitter-gated ion channels and two-pore K+ channels are key players in the mechanism of anesthesia; however, new studies have also implicated voltage-gated ion channels. Recent biophysical and structural studies of Na+ and K+ channels strongly suggest that halogenated inhalational general anesthetics interact with gates and pore regions of these ion channels to modulate function. Here, we review these studies and provide a perspective to stimulate further advances.
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