Plants React To General Anesthesia

In today’s modern world, the use of anesthesia during a medical procedure has become a necessity and is extremely common. The luxury of being “asleep” and feeling no pain during a surgery is something we can’t imagine living without this day in age. This was not always the case, and the first use of anesthesia took place in 1846 during a procedure to remove a tumor in a patient’s neck. At that time, the drug of choice was ether which did indeed knock the patient unconscious, but unfortunately was extremely dangerous. Today, there are many options anesthesiologists can use, however it is still not completely clear how the process of anesthesia works. A recent study has shown like humans, plants react to general anesthesia.

Scientists and doctors are continuously researching the science of anesthesia and we are constantly finding out more about the process. One group of researchers formed a study that explored the effects of anesthesia on plants and concluded that plants react to general anesthesia. Scientists have known for some time that plants are affected by anesthesia, in fact, Claude Bernard discovered this over one hundred years ago. This new study explored this fact even further and had the goal of understanding the link between the plant and animal system in terms of anesthesia.

One of the plants used in this study was Dionaea muscipula, also known as the venus flytrap. Researchers first observed the venus flytrap as it functions normally, where triggering hairs in the plants trap causes it to snap shut. After exposing the plant to diethyl ether gas, the plant is unresponsive to the trigger. After 15 minutes, it seems the plant recovers and then responds to a trigger.

The team of scientists conducting this research, hope their results from this study will help unlock the mystery of how anesthesia works in humans. The team of researchers from Germany, Japan, the Czech Republic, and Italy published their study in Annals of Botany. This ongoing research is helpful to doctors and anesthesia providers, as well as to patients. The more information patients have on the process of anesthesia, the more they can be at ease when preparing for a procedure. If you or someone you know is preparing to go under anesthesia, click here to visit the Steel City Anesthesia website for more information.