Minimum Alveolar Concentrations of Noble Gases, Nitrogen, and Sulfur Hexafluoride in Rats

Abstract

It has been thought that the high pressures of helium and neon that might be needed to produce anesthesia antagonize their anesthetic properties (pressure reversal of anesthesia). We propose an alternative explanation: like other compounds with a low affinity to water, helium and neon are intrinsically without anesthetic effect.