Anesthetics and ALS

[sixwings]

The anesthetics propofol and sevoflurane have different binding sites even though they act on pretty much the same receptors. For this reason, their actions are additive, not competitive, which is a good thing. It is good because the two complement each other.

Equally important is that, due to genetic differences, different people have different sensitivity to a given anesthetic at its binding site. In other words, if propofol is not very effective in reducing symptoms in an ALS patient, it does not necessarily mean that anesthetics will not work for that patient. It is very likely that sevoflurane or some other anesthetic will do the trick.

In order for an anesthetic to be effective against ALS, it must potentiate all the right receptors, i.e., the receptors that are known to be deficient in ALS patients such as the GABA-A and glycine alpha-1 receptors. This is true for propofol and sevoflurane but not for the benzodiazepine sedatives (e.g., Versed).

Finally, the most important property of an effective anesthetic is something called potentiation. Sevoflurane and propofol both potentiate their target receptors. That is to say, they increase the receptors' affinity for their neurotransmitters, making them more efficient. This is important because potentiation does not disappear after the anesthetic is eliminated from the body. This is the reason PALS who have undergone an anesthetic treatment reported that the improvements lasted many days and weeks after the procedure.

[jchexpress]

Hey Louis. I'm still speaking for you over at TDI (you know using whore, ho and beeach lots lol). Figured I check out this new creation too. Looking forward to seeing what develops of it. My benefits are starting to go away from last procedure so I'm scheduling a colonoscopy and anesthesiologist agreed on 800mg propofol this time and I am trying to convince him to mix it with sevoflurane simply to see what happens but haven't heard back yet. I think he well. He is a cool dude and pretty much does whatever I ask of him so long as it doesn't put him in danger of losing his license. Don't know why this would be dangerous in his hands. Will update when I hear something.

Jason

[sixwings]

Jason, thanks for joining this discussion. I've been researching the properties of sevoflurane and I've concluded that it is a better anesthetic than propofol for our purposes. If you can convince your anesthesiologist to combine the two or even to use sevoflurane alone, I can guarantee that you will see very impressive results.

[sixwings]

The reason that sevoflurane is so important to PALS is that it is a potent glycine receptor agonist. Glycine receptors are found extensively in the spinal cord and the brain stem, two areas that are of special importance to ALS patients because they control motor neurons that innervate all types of muscles. In fact, most of the volatile anesthetics, sevoflurane, desflurane, isoflurane, etc., potentiate glycine receptors. This makes them the anesthetics of choice for surgical procedures that call for a complete immobilization of the patient. Such procedures include spine and neck operations. I recently had a talk with a nurse that was present during my wife's neck surgery in 2007. She told me that anesthesiologists almost always use sevoflurane during spine operations and that she was almost certain that it was what was given to my wife.

As an aside, I am almost certain that sevoflurane was the anesthetic given to Ted Harada during his 5+ hour stem cell procedure.

[sixwings]

After much study and head scratching, I am now fully convinced that volatile anesthetics such as sevoflurane, desflurane and isoflurane are the anesthetics that will have the most beneficial effect on ALS symptoms. The reason is that they are potent glycine alpha-1 receptor agonists, especially at high concentrations. Their potentiation of the alpha-1 glycine receptor is much stronger than propofol.

While the GABA-A receptors are important, I believe that the glycine receptors are much more important. They are the most abundant inhibitory receptors in the spinal cord and the brain stem where they regulate motor neurons. I will even go out on a limb and claim that most ALS patients, especially those with the limb-onset variety, can expect a full remission of the disease following several treatments with high doses of sevoflurane. As I wrote in the ALS/Anesthetics Hypothesis, inhibitory glycine receptors are used by the immune system to regulate the activity of monocytes. They also regulate the activity of glial cells like astrocytes and oligodendrocytes both of which are implicated in the pathology of ALS. These cells are also implicated in other neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis.

[gege]

bonjour louis

aver vous comuniquer avec le docteur genge pour parler du propofol et les anestesique

[sixwings]

bonjour louis

aver vous comuniquer avec le docteur genge pour parler du propofol et les anestesique

Bonjour, gege. J'ai envoye un email a Genge il y a quelques jours mais pas de reponse jusqu'ici.

[gege]

bonjour louis

je vait tenter de la contacter car je suit un clien de genge et va appeler pour un rendevous pour lui parler de votre email que vous lui aver envouyer .

[gege]

bonjour louis

jai trouver ce lien pour propofol ce la pourait etre interesant

http://molpharm.aspetjournals.org/conte ... 2e14860611

[sixwings]

Merci, gege.