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submitted 5 days ago by threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] Deconceptualist@lemm.ee 50 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Xenon is a drug?

Drugs.com calls it "physiologically inert" with some anaesthetic effects at high doses. Most of the coverage is about Xe-133 radiopharmacology and not what most people would think of as a "drug". Is there more to the story?

https://www.drugs.com/pro/xenon-xe-133-gas.html

[-] drosophila 3 points 4 days ago

Don't listen to the people who say it works by displacing oxygen. It would never be used as a general anesthetic if that was the mechanism of action.

Xenon has been used as a general anesthetic, but it is more expensive than conventional anesthetics.

Xenon is a high-affinity glycine-site NMDA receptor antagonist.[155] However, xenon is different from certain other NMDA receptor antagonists in that it is not neurotoxic and it inhibits the neurotoxicity of ketamine and nitrous oxide (N2O), while actually producing neuroprotective effects.[156][157] Unlike ketamine and nitrous oxide, xenon does not stimulate a dopamine efflux in the nucleus accumbens.[158]

Xenon has a minimum alveolar concentration (MAC) of 72% at age 40, making it 44% more potent than N2O as an anesthetic.[164] Thus, it can be used with oxygen in concentrations that have a lower risk of hypoxia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenon