Anesthesia/ patient unconsciousness explained (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, June 29, 2020, 22:19 (1396 days ago) @ David Turell

Finally explained why the surgical patient is not conscious:

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-05-anesthesia-effect-consciousness-century-old-scie...

"Using modern nanoscale microscopic techniques, plus clever experiments in living cells and fruit flies, the scientists show how clusters of lipids in the cell membrane serve as a missing go-between in a two-part mechanism. Temporary exposure to anesthesia causes the lipid clusters to move from an ordered state, to a disordered one, and then back again, leading to a multitude of subsequent effects that ultimately cause changes in consciousness.

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"Using Nobel Prize-winning microscopic technology, specifically a microscope called dSTORM, short for "direct stochastical optical reconstruction microscopy," a post-doctoral researcher in the Hansen lab bathed cells in chloroform and watched something like the opening break shot of a game of billiards. Exposing the cells to chloroform strongly increased the diameter and area of cell membrane lipid clusters called GM1, Hansen explains.

"What he was looking at was a shift in the GM1 cluster's organization, a shift from a tightly packed ball to a disrupted mess, Hansen says. As it grew disordered, GM1 spilled its contents, among them, an enzyme called phospholipase D2 (PLD2).

"Tagging PLD2 with a fluorescent chemical, Hansen was able to watch via the dSTORM microscope as PLD2 moved like a billiard ball away from its GM1 home and over to a different, less-preferred lipid cluster called PIP2. This activated key molecules within PIP2 clusters, among them, TREK1 potassium ion channels and their lipid activator, phosphatidic acid (PA). The activation of TREK1 basically freezes neurons' ability to fire, and thus leads to loss of consciousness, Hansen says.

"'The TREK1 potassium channels release potassium, and that hyper-polarizes the nerve—it makes it more difficult to fire—and just shuts it down," Hansen says."

Comment: we now know the specifics of the molecular mechanism. This is not related to the loss of consciousness in NDE's, since the EEG is still active, although slightly altered. Under my dualistic theory, this means the soul is still attached to the brain during surgery.