Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28042377›Full record

ArticleCommunicative & integrative biology2016

Understanding of anesthesia - Why consciousness is essential for life and not based on genes.

František Baluška, Ken Yokawa, Stefano Mancuso, Keith Baverstock

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Communicative & integrative biology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
14citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

14 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. All Organisms Can Be Anesthetized, but There's No Point?BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology · 2025
    Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Towards Quantum-Chemical Modeling of the Activity of Anesthetic Compounds.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021
    Review
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Senomic view of the cell: SenomeCommunicative & integrative biology · 2018
    Review
  13. Review
  14. The evolution of "Life": A Metadarwinian integrative approach.Communicative & integrative biology · 2017
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

František BaluškaIZMB, University of Bonn , Kirschalle, Bonn, Germany.
Ken YokawaIZMB, University of Bonn , Kirschalle, Bonn, Germany.
Stefano MancusoDepartment of Plant, Soil and Environmental Science & LINV, University of Florence , Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
Keith BaverstockDepartment of Environmental Science, University of Eastern Finland , Kuopio, Finland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Anesthesia and consciousness represent 2 mysteries not only for biology but also for physics and philosophy. Although anesthesia was introduced to medicine more than 160 y ago, our understanding of how it works still remains a mystery. The most prevalent view is that the human brain and its neurons are necessary to impose the effects of anesthetics. However, the fact is that all life can be anesthesized. Numerous theories have been generated trying to explain the major impact of anesthetics on our human-specific consciousness; switching it off so rapidly, but no single theory resolves this enduring mystery. The speed of anesthetic actions precludes any direct involvement of genes. Lipid bilayers, cellular membranes, and critical proteins emerge as the most probable primary targets of anesthetics. Recent findings suggest, rather surprisingly, that physical forces underlie both the anesthetic actions on living organisms as well as on consciousness in general.

Indexed as

anesthesiaanestheticsconsciousnessetherethylenegeneslipidsmembranesplantsxenon

Identifiers

PMID28042377
PMCPMC5193047

What OpenQuestion holds

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Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.