Anesthetics may restructure the hydrogen belts of membranes

Anesthetic molecules can form hydrogen bonds or organize hydrogen-bond networks. It is argued that they affect the neuronal cell membrane not by an amorphous fluidization of the hyprophobic core of the lipid bilayer but by a restructuring of its hydrogen belts, i.e., the regions occupied by the CO and OH groups of the membrane lipids. The structured disturbance of the hydrogen-bond network is translated latitudinally to hydrogen-bonding sites of the proteins of the membrane, causing allosteric changes of ion channels that result in neuronal blocking.