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Hippocampus 157: Effects On Resting Membrane Potential
Hippocampus 157: Effects On Resting Membrane Potential
studied general anesthetics on many important synaptic and cellular responses. A common
theme has
emerged for the cellular actions produced by volatile, barbiturate, and propofol anesthetics.
All of
these agents block synaptically evoked discharge activity of CA 1 pyramidal cells and
dentate granule
neurons, but the mechanisms producing the block can differ considerably for volatile vs IV
anesthetics.
Agent specific effects have been observed for actions on excitatory and inhibitory synapses
and for
changes in postsynaptic excitability. For most anesthetics, multiple sites of action combine in
additive
or synergistic ways to depress transmission, but other agents appear to act at only one or
two sites.
Consistent with a minimal effect on action potential discharge, anesthetics do not appear to
effect
antidromic spike responses recorded from the pyramidal or granule neuron cell body layers
following
stimulation of their axons (52,53) until high concentrations are achieved, 510 fold higher
than needed
to block synaptically driven discharge.