Microtubule-Stabilizer Epothilone B Delays Anesthetic-Induced Unconsciousness in Rats.
eNeuro August 1, 2024 Sana Khan, Yixiang Huang, Derin Timuçin et al. 23 citations
Volatile anesthetics like isoflurane may cause unconsciousness by binding to microtubules (MTs) inside neurons and dampening their quantum optical effects. In male rats injected with the MT-stabilizing drug epothilone B (epoB), loss of righting reflex under 4% isoflurane took an average of 69 seconds longer than in rats given a placebo. The difference was statistically significant with a large effect size (Cohen's d = 1.9) and could not be explained by tolerance from repeated anesthetic exposure. This supports the idea that consciousness arises from quantum physical states in neural microtubules, as proposed in the orchestrated objective reduction (Orch OR) theory.