Mechanisms of Actions of Inhaled Anesthetics

“Suffering so great as I underwent cannot be expressed in words . . . but the blank whirlwind of emotion, the horror of great darkness, and the sense of desertion by God and man, which swept through my mind, and overwhelmed my heart, I can never forget.” 1 Such was the experience of surgery before October 1846, when William Morton's successful public demonstration of ether anesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital led to its widespread acceptance by surgeons. Today, anesthesiologists employ a wide variety of drugs, some of which they use exclusively to produce general anesthesia. 2 , 3 This review focuses on the . . .