Posted by Amigan on June 5, 2008, at 11:51:51
In reply to Re: Nitrous Oxide, posted by undopaminergic on June 5, 2008, at 11:10:00
> More trivia:
>
> Nitrous oxide (N2O) is an antagonist of the NMDA-glutamate receptor and thus has some pharmacological similarity to memantine and ketamine. This property of N2O is likely to account for the dissociative effects sometimes associated with its use.
>
> N2O also has some GABAergic activity. It has anxiolytic efficacy that is antagonised by benzodiazepine-receptor antagonists such as flumazenil.
>
> By some mechanism, N2O interacts with the endogenous opioid system, but the details are unclear. There are conflicting reports as to whether the effects of N2O are diminished by opioid-antagonists such as naloxone. One paper reports that rats tolerant to the analgesic effects of N2O do not exhibit cross-tolerance to morphine, whereas, in contrast, morphine-tolerant rats have reduced sensitivity to the analgesic effects of N2O.
>
> Possibly via stimulating the release of endogenous opioids, N2O activates brain stem noradrenergic neurons, which results in enhanced noradrenaline release in the spinal cord. Apparently, spinal alpha2B-adrenergic receptors mediate N2O-analgesia, as the analgesic - but not sedative - effects of N2O in animals lacking alpha2B-adrenoceptors are abolished.
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> Animals that develop tolerance to N2O upon long-term exposure are reportedly cross-tolerant to alcohol, and conversely, animals tolerant to alcohol have reduced sensitivity to the analgesic effects of N2O.
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> However, N2O-tolerant animals are reportedly not cross-tolerant to barbiturates.
>
> N2O depletes the cyanocobalamine form of vitamin B12 by oxidising it to an inactive compound, and chronic use of N2O can result in vitamin B12-deficiency.It amazes me of how complex action in the CNS an non-organic molecule may have. N2O, lithium...
I also read somewhere that high amounts of N2O causes brain damage.
poster:Amigan
thread:832870
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080528/msgs/833102.html