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Enflurane is a potent inhibitor of high conductance Ca 2+ ‐activated K + ' channels of Chara australis
Author(s) -
Antkowiak Bernd,
Kirschfeld Kuno
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/0014-5793(92)81209-5
Subject(s) - enflurane , charybdotoxin , tetraethylammonium , conductance , chemistry , ion channel , anesthesia , membrane potential , biophysics , halothane , biochemistry , medicine , organic chemistry , biology , potassium , physics , receptor , condensed matter physics
The volatile anaesthetic, enflurane, is commonly used in surgery for inducing the state of general anaesthesia. It is assumed, that general anaesthetics act on ion channels, but little is known of how they do so and what kinds of channels are sensitive. We found, that enflurane inhibits a large conductance Ca 2+ ‐activated K + channel of the green alga, Chara australis . Effects occur at clinically relevant concentrations and are fully reversible. The actions of enflurane are distinct from those of charybdotoxin and tetraethylammonium, which are well known blockers of this channel type. Kinetic analysis of single‐channel data demonstrates multiple effects of enflurane on the channel protein.