The potency of an inhalational anaesthetic agent depends upon
Meyer-Oveon correlation of anesthetic potency with solubility in olive oil interpreted by the majority of researchers as an indicator that lipids are likely the anesthetic target. This interpretation focused attention on anesthetic effects on the bulk physical propeies of cell membranes, which were known at that time to consist primarily of lipid molecules. Such nonspecific or "lipoid-based" anesthetic theories dominated the field from the 1960s to the 1980s. Moreover, the simple elegance of the relationship between MAC and lipid solubility graphically illustrated Meyer and Oveon's conclusion that "All chemically indifferent substances that are soluble in fat are anesthetics ... their relative potency as anesthetics will depend on their affinity to fat on the one hand and water on the other hand, that is, on the fat/water paition coefficient". This was interpreted as oring lipids as the primary targets of anesthetics and a single nonspecific theory to explain anesthesia. Ref: Miller's anesthesia 8th edition Ref: Morgan & Mikhail's clinical anesthesiology 6e
blood gas paition coefficient
Oil-gas paition coefficient
Gas pressure
Blood pressure
Fundamental concepts