Studies of Narcosis: Charles Ernest Overton

ISBN-13: 9789401053716 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 203 str.

R. L. Lipnick

Opis

Charles Ernest Overton's 1901 monograph Studien aber die Narkose has become a scientific classic in a number of different fields. This book represents the first English translation, and in fact the first translation into any other language, of the original German work. In addition to* the edited translation, this volume contains introductory chapters by Keith Miller, Peter Winter and Leonard Firestone and myself. As editor, I have attempted above all else to ensure that the translation faithfully represents Overton's ideas and data, while making the material readily understandable to the modem scientific reader. This has frequently required that extremely long sentences, common in turn-of- the-century German but considered cumbersome today, be simplified into two or even three sentences. In addition, I have paid particular attention to the correct translation of scientific terms, and I accept complete responsibility for any inaccuracies in this area. Overton's original contents list included headings and subheadings, but only a fraction of these appear in the original text. For the sake of clarity they have all been included in the body of the translated work. Also included is an index containing all chemicals mentioned in the book, along with their Chemical Abstracts System Registry Numbers for un- ambiguous identification, a complete list of Overton's publications (Appendix B), and a list of all biographical articles about Overton and articles dealing specifically with analyses of his data (Appendix C).

Recenzje

`I would urge other anaesthetists...to read it. They will be pleasantly suprised.'
British Journal of Anaesthesia
`Studies of Narcosis is a valuable and fascinating book, and should be in the library of anyone concerned with the actions of xenobiotics of living organisms.'
Xenobiotica

Spis treści

1 Introduction.- 2 Introduction.- 3 Charles Ernest Overton: narcosis studies and a contribution to general pharmacology.- Studies of Narcosis and a Contribution to General Pharmacology.- Preface.- One General Section.- 1 Background.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 Attempts to distinguish between anaesthetics and narcotics.- 1.3 Inhalation anaesthetics and other non-specific narcotics.- 1.4 Non-specific and basic narcotics.- 1.5 Factors to be considered in developing a theory of narcosis.- 1.6 Relationship between dose and means of administration.- 1.7 Calculation of the concentration of a toxicant in the blood plasma.- 1.8 Conditions affecting blood plasma toxicant concentration.- 1.9 Bert’s method for maintaining a constant concentration of an anaesthetic in the blood.- 1.10 Bert’s experiments with chloroform and ethyl ether.- 1.11 Concentration of an anaesthetic in the blood plasma.- 1.12 The intercellular lymph as a pathway between the blood and the tissue cells.- 1.13 Three groups of compounds differing with respect to their permeability to tissue cells.- 1.13.1 Compounds unable to penetrate living cells.- 1.13.2 Compounds that readily penetrate living cells.- 1.13.3 Compounds that slowly penetrate living cells.- 1.14 Method of producing known and constant concentrations of non-volatile compounds in the blood: limits of applicability.- 2 Critical review of the major hypotheses on the mechanism of narcosis.- 2.1 Hypotheses based upon the circulation in the brain.- 2.2 Hypothesis of Claude Bernard.- 2.3 Hypothesis of Binz.- 2.4 Hypothesis of Dubois.- 2.5 Richet’s principle.- 2.6 Hypotheses based upon the chemical composition of the brain.- 2.6.1 Chemistry of the nervous system.- 2.6.2 Hypothesis of Bibra and Harless.- 2.6.3 Contribution of Hermann.- 2.7 Theory of H. Meyer and the author on narcosis induced by non-specific narcotics.- 3 Lipoid theory of narcosis and partition coefficients.- 3.1 Theory of partition coefficients.- 3.2 Methods for measuring partition coefficients.- 3.2.1 Physical methods.- 3.2.2 Physiological methods.- 3.3 Measurement of partition coefficients between water and cerebral lipoids.- 3.4 General foundation of the lipoid theory of narcosis.- Two Experimental Results.- 4 Narcosis induced by ether and chloroform.- 4.1 Ether narcosis.- 4.1.1 Experiments with ethyl ether.- 4.1.2 Calculation of the ether concentration in the blood plasma of narcotized mammals and man from the data of Bert.- 4.1.3 Concentration of ether in the blood plasma of narcotized tadpoles.- 4.1.4 Concentration of ether in the blood plasma of other narcotized organisms and in narcotized plants.- 4.1.5 Biological transport of ether and other non-specific narcotics into the blood and cerebral lipoids of aquatic organisms.- 4.1.6 Partition coefficient of ether between water and olive oil.- 4.2 Chloroform narcosis.- 4.2.1 Experiments with chloroform.- 4.2.2 Calculations of the chloroform concentration in the blood plasma of mammals from the data of Bert.- 4.2.3 Chloroform concentration in the blood plasma of narcotized tadpoles.- 5 Aliphatic non-electrolyte organic compounds and narcosis.- 5.1 Monohydric alcohols.- 5.2 Aliphatic hydrocarbons and their halogen derivatives.- 5.3 Nitriles and nitroparaffins.- 5.4 Monovalent aldehydes, paraldehyde, chloral hydrate and chloralformamide.- 5.5 Ketones, sulfonals, aldoximes and ketoximes.- 5.6 Esters of mineral acids.- 5.7 Esters of organic acids: significance of the rate of saponification, and effect of the presence of hydroxyl groups.- 5.8 Dihydric and polyhydric alcohols and some of their derivatives.- 5.9 Acid amides: urea and its derivatives.- 5.10 Chloralose.- 6 Aromatic compounds.- 6.1 Aromatic hydrocarbons and azobenzene.- 6.1.1 Potent narcotic action of phenanthrene.- 6.2 Phenols and their ethers, vanillin and piperonal.- 6.2.1 Monovalent phenols and their ethers.- 6.2.2 Divalent phenols and their ethers.- 6.2.3 Vanillin and piperonal.- 6.3 Oil of turpentine, camphor and volatile oils.- 6.4 Lactones and anhydrides.- 6.5 Acetanilide, methacetin and phenacetin.- 6.6 Additive effects of two or more non-specific narcotics.- 7 Inorganic anaesthetics.- 7.1 Carbon dioxide.- 7.1.1 Carbon dioxide and natural sleep.- 7.1.2 Partial pressure of carbon dioxide necessary for narcosis.- 7.1.3 Tadpole experiments.- 7.1.4 Effect of temperature.- 7.1.5 Mechanism of the absorption and release of carbon dioxide.- 7.2 Carbon disulphide.- 7.3 Nitrous oxide.- 8 Action of basic narcotics and basic compounds.- 8.1 Classification of the basic organic compounds according to their degree of alkalinity.- 8.2 Formation of salts with cell proteins.- 8.3 Action of some very weak organic bases.- 8.4 Action of some stronger organic bases.- 8.5 Similarities and differences in the action of non-specific narcotics and organic bases.- 8.6 Complexes of organic bases with tannins and proteins.- 8.7 Relationship between the constitution of an organic base and its physiological effect.- 9 Conclusion.- 9.1 Summary of some of the findings.- Appendix A Detoxification by means of dialysis.- Appendix B List of publications of Charles Ernest Overton.- Appendix C Publications about Overton and analyses of his data.