SNARE proteins as molecular masters of interneuronal communication

Quantum interactive dualism: From Beck and Eccles tunneling model of exocytosis to molecular biology of SNARE zipping

“…Among other predictions, such as temperature dependence and kinetic isotope effect, our model also provides an unexpected link with general anesthesia -the action of volatile anesthetics seems to be mediated through binding to the SNARE complex (69,70), and, moreover, the only known mutation that confers resistance to volatile anesthetics is in the syntaxin gene and leads to expression of a truncated form of syntaxin (71). The unravelling of such a deep connection between consciousness, anesthesia, quantum mechanics and SNARE function might be an indication that finally we are on the right path that will lead us to a comprehensive physical theory of consciousness (72).…”

Quantum information theoretic approach to the mind–brain problem

“…The increased sensitivity to volatile anesthetics conferred by the expression of mutant voltage-gated sodium channels (Pal et al, 2015), however, provides only indirect link to consciousness, and experimental attempts to introduce resistance to anesthesia in mice expressing artificially engineered mutant voltage-gated calcium channels (Petrenko et al, 2007) or volatile anesthetic-resistant GABA A chloride ion channels (Werner et al, 2011) have been unsuccessful. In contrast, several lines of experimental evidence point to direct involvement of SNARE proteins in volatile anesthetic-induced unconsciousness (Georgiev & Glazebrook, 2010). Firstly, general anesthesia with clinical concentrations of volatile anesthetics, such as isoflurane or halothane, inhibits excitatory neurotransmitter release (MacIver et al, 1996;Herring et al, 2009;Wu et al, 2004), and selectively erases consciousness, but not all cortical electric responses.…”