Rev Bras AnestesiolARTIGO DIVERSO 2006; 56: 5: 530-

While specialized Medicine is increasingly fascinated by the advanced technology of new drugs and fantastic monitors, there is an increasing trend in several countries for a more holistic approach and rejection of new treatment methods, with an option for teas, meditation, vegetarian diets and anti-oxidants, among others. It is the anesthesiologists role to evaluate how much pharmacognosy and pharmacobotany knowledge may help him in the anesthetic practice and, especially, in patients safety.

RESUMO

RESUMO

The interaction between sevoflurane and cytochrome P450 2E1 with enzymatic inducers can lead to oxidative stress with prolonged and repetitive exposure.

The effect of 50% convulsant (CD50) and 50% lethal (LD50) doses of lidocaine, bupivacaine and pentylenetetrazol were determined in mice stressed by paradoxical sleep deprivation (PSD). The results showed a reduced mortality after high doses of local anesthetics and decreased seizure susceptibility induced by bupivacaine after 48 h and 72 h of PSD. On the other hand this stressful manipulation increased the susceptibility to pentylenetetrazol-induced convulsions. These data may suggest a different mechanism of action for these drugs. Possible alterations in drug metabolism or on aminergic transmission after PSD may be involved in the protection to the toxic effect of the local anesthetics.

Although research and operating room accidents are regrettable, some of them happen and may sometimes lead to spectacular advances, such as heroic treatments and even Nobel Prizes. Open-mindedness is a common trait to those willing to count on grand prize, as American physicist Henry would state (1842): 'Seeds of discovery are constantly floating around us, but the onlytake roots in minds well prepared to receive them'.

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