Fourteen polyhalogenated, completely halogenated (perhalogenated), or perfluorinated compounds were examined for their anesthetic effects in rats. Anesthetic potency or minimum alveolar anesthetic concentration (MAC) was quantified using response/nonresponse to electrical stimulation of the tail as the end-point. For compounds that produced excitable behavior, and/or did not produce anesthesia when given alone, we determined MAC by additivity studies with desflurane. Nine of 14 compounds had measurable MAC values with products of MAC x oil/gas partition coefficient ranging from 3.7 to 24.8 atm. Because these products exceed that for conventional inhaled anesthetics (1.8 atm), they demonstrate a deviation from the Meyer-Overton hypothesis. Five compounds (CF3CCIFCF3, CF3CCIFCCIFCF3, perfluorocyclobutane, 1,2-dichloroperfluorocyclobutane, and 1,2-dimethylperfluorocyclobutane) had no anesthetic effect when given alone, had excitatory effects when given alone, and tended to increase the MAC for desflurane. These five compounds had no anesthetic properties in spite of their abilities to dissolve in lipids and tissues, to penetrate into the central nervous system, and to be administered at high enough partial pressures so that they should have an anesthetic effect as predicted by the Meyer-Overton hypothesis. Such compounds will be useful in identifying and differentiating anesthetic sites and mechanisms of action. Any physiologic or biophysical/biochemical change produced by conventional anesthetics and deemed important for the anesthetic state should not be produced by nonanesthetics.

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The correlation between the potency of inhaled anesthetics and their solubility in a hydrophobic phase provides an opportunity to define better the characteristics of the anesthetic site of action. The correlation implies that inhaled anesthetics act in a hydrophobic site and that the solvent used has properties representative of the true site of anesthetic action. We sought to characterize this site more accurately by testing for the solvent that provided the best correlation for a diverse group of anesthetics. We determined the solubility of halothane, enflurane, cyclopropane, fluroxene, isoflurane, sevoflurane, and desflurane in benzene, olive oil, Intralipid, n-octanol, and lecithin. We used established MAC values for rats, dogs, and humans for all but sevoflurane and desflurane, for which we determined MAC in rats to be 2.80% +/- 0.24% (mean +/- standard deviation) and 7.71% +/- 0.65%, respectively. Lecithin gave the lowest coefficient of variation for the product of potency (MAC) x solubility, but the difference was statistically significant only for a comparison of the products for lecithin and olive oil. The values for lecithin were within the range of values produced by biological variation. More important, the correlation of log MAC and log solubility had an average slope of unity (-1.04 +/- 0.07) for lecithin, but a slope differing from unity for benzene (-0.82 +/- 0.05) and olive oil (-0.87 +/- 0.05). We conclude that lecithin is probably more representative of the site of action of these anesthetics than the other solvents.

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The cardiovascular actions of three concentrations of desflurane (formerly I-653), a new inhalation anesthetic, were examined in 12 unrnedicated normocapnic, normothermic male volunteers. We compared the effects of 0.83, 1.24, and 1.66 MAC desflurane with measurements obtained while the same men were conscious. Desflurane caused a dose-dependent increase in right-heart filling pressure and a decrease in systemic vascular resistance and mean systemic arterial blood pressure. As measured by echocardiography, left ventricular end-diastolic area did not change except for a small increase at 1.66 MAC desflurane, and systolic wall stress was less at all concentrations of desflurane than during the conscious state. Desflurane did not change cardiac index or left ventricular ejection fraction. Heart rate did not change at 0.83 MAC, but progressively increased with deeper desflurane anesthesia. Stroke volume index was less at all concentrations of desflurane than while the men were conscious, but desflurane did not alter the velocity of ventricular circumferential fiber shortening. Mixed venous blood Po, and oxyhemoglobin saturation were higher during all concentrations of desflurane anesthesia than during the conscious state. No volunteer developed a metabolic acidosis. We conclude that desflurane with controlled ventilation and constant Paco, causes cardiovascular depression, as indicated by the increased cardiac filling pressure and decreased stroke volume index and by no change in the velocity of circumferential fiber shortening in the presence of decreased systolic wall stress. However, cardiac output is well maintained, and heart rate does not increase at light levels of anesthesia. The cardiovascular actions of 0.83 and 1.66 MAC desflurane were also reexamined in 6 of the 12 men during the seventh hour of anesthesia. Prolonged desflurane anesthesia resulted in lesser cardiovascular depression than was evidenced during the first 90 min. The measures of cardiac filling (central venous pressure and left ventricular enddiastolic cross-sectional area) did not differ between the early and late periods of anesthesia. Systemic vascular resistance decreased further during the late period, but systolic wall stress did not differ between the two time periods. During the seventh hour of desflurane anesthesia, heart rate and cardiac index were higher at both anesthetic concentrations than during the first 90 min of anesthesia. Left ventricular ejection fraction and velocity of fiber shortening did not change with duration of desflurane anesthesia. Oxygen consumption, oxygen transport, the ratio of the two, mixed venous Po,, and mixed venous oxyhemoglobin saturation (Sod increased late in the anesthetic in comparison with the first 90 min. (Anesth Analg 1991;7314>56) esflurane (formerly 1-653) is a new inhaled anesthetic, structurally similar to isoflurane, D but with advantageous lower blood (1) and tissue (2) solubilities, and little or no metabolism (3-5). The cardiovascular effects of desflurane in ~~ ~ ~~swine do not differ...

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