Ethanol, usually studied in relation to intoxication, is also capable of producing general anesthesia. The most common standard of anesthetic potency is the concentration which produces immobility in response to a noxious stimulus. This concentration will be referred to as the anesthetic concentration.
Immobilization is a spinal effect.
The profile of ethanol effects on spinal cord resembles that of inhalation general anesthetics. The results show that both AMPA and NMDA receptor-mediated transmission are sensitive to ethanol and that enhancement of GABAergic neurotransmission is overridden by depression of excitation to the interneurons. They provide no obvious explanation for ethanol's lower general anesthetic potency in the neonate. Ethanol, usually studied in relation to intoxication, is also capable of producing general anesthesia. The most common standard of anesthetic potency is the concentration which produces immobility in response to a noxious stimulus.