Low-Level Hyperbaric Ethanol Antagonism in Mice

Abstract

Dose- and pressure-related interactions between ethanol anesthesia and low-level hyperbaric H-O2 environments were studied in mice using conditions which eliminated the possibility of hypoxia during compression and hyperbaric H-induced hypothermia. Hyperbaric H-O2 (1-12 atm absolute) reduced sleep time in a pressure-related manner. The degree of maximum ethanol antagonism decreased as the ethanol dose increased (3.2, 3.6 and 4.0 g/kg). The results are consistent with membrane theories of general anesthesia and suggest a possible common mechanism between ethanol antagonism at low hyperbaric pressure and high-pressure reversal of anesthesia. Low level hyperbaric pressures may provide a viable means of reducing acute ethanol toxicity and may represent a direct antagonist of ethanol which functions at the molecular level.