Articles: general-anesthesia.
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The large number and diversity of anesthetic agents were evident to investigators 80 years ago, and suggested a physicochemical theory of anesthesia. Meyer and Overton were the first to offer a quantitative relationship between a physicochemical property and potency of anesthetic agents. They also focused attention on the lipid phase as the site of anesthetic action. ⋯ The microtubule theory of Allison and Nunn has not accumulated supporting evidence comparable to the lipid theories. Contradictory evidence makes any evaluation of this theory speculative. Additionally, the interspecies and intracellular variability of microtubules raises questions of the relevance of many studies...
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Anaphylactic reactions to drugs used in general anesthesia have a complex mechanism: true anaphylaxis by antigen antibody reaction (IgG our IgE) histamine liberation by certain substances with a special chemical structure, activation of the alternative route of complement. The authors recall the immunological stages in each case and give examples.