Biophysical study demonstrates enhanced ion permeability across bilayer lipid membranes exposed to sevoflurane, indicating altered dielectric properties drive anesthetic action.
Sevoflurane significantly enhanced ion permeability across a bilayer lipid membrane (BLM). It is a typical inhalational anesthetic with a dielectric constant (8.1) higher than that inside the BLM (≈2.0). An increase (1.04 times) in the inner dielectric constant of the BLM is proposed to result from the accumulation of sevoflurane within the membrane. This increase is responsible for the facilitation of ion transport by enhancing the distribution coefficient of the electrolyte ions (17.6 times).
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Matsumoto et al. (2026) studied this question.
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