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. 2016 Nov 4;9(6):e1238118.
doi: 10.1080/19420889.2016.1238118. eCollection 2016.

Understanding of anesthesia - Why consciousness is essential for life and not based on genes

František Baluška  1 , Ken Yokawa  1 , Stefano Mancuso  2 , Keith Baverstock  3
Affiliations

Understanding of anesthesia - Why consciousness is essential for life and not based on genes

František Baluška et al. Commun Integr Biol. .

Abstract

Anesthesia and consciousness represent 2 mysteries not only for biology but also for physics and philosophy. Although anesthesia was introduced to medicine more than 160 y ago, our understanding of how it works still remains a mystery. The most prevalent view is that the human brain and its neurons are necessary to impose the effects of anesthetics. However, the fact is that all life can be anesthesized. Numerous theories have been generated trying to explain the major impact of anesthetics on our human-specific consciousness; switching it off so rapidly, but no single theory resolves this enduring mystery. The speed of anesthetic actions precludes any direct involvement of genes. Lipid bilayers, cellular membranes, and critical proteins emerge as the most probable primary targets of anesthetics. Recent findings suggest, rather surprisingly, that physical forces underlie both the anesthetic actions on living organisms as well as on consciousness in general.

Keywords: anesthesia; anesthetics; consciousness; ether; ethylene; genes; lipids; membranes; plants; xenon.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Fast loss and gain of consciousness after exposure and removal of anesthetics is based on primary processes linked to the plasma membrane (ion fluxes, electric activities, endocytic vesicle recycling), whereas changes in gene expression are playing only secondary roles.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Both in animals and plants, organs with the highest activities of endocytic vesicle recycling and electric activities are implied in loss of consciousness (motility, sensitivity, and behavior).
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Claude Bernard discovered higher sensitivity of photosynthesis to anesthetics in comparison to respiration. Chloroplast accomplish photosynthesis on stacked membranes know as thylakoid grana which can be considered for inter-organellar synapses. We propose that these stacked membranes are not only essential for photosynthesis but also makes this process more sensitive to anesthetics.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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