Yes and no. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of drugs that can be used to induce anesthesia. All of the common intravenous drugs that I can think of have well-studied mechanisms of action that at least mostly explain their effects. The volatile anesthetics (ie those that are vaporized and inhaled) are not as well understood. Volatile anesthetics were also the first meds used to induce surgical anesthesia (ether), so it's somewhat surprising they have eluded our understanding for so long. We know a lot about the effects these drugs have on different organ systems, and there are some studies that shed light on different mechanistic elements, but overall their mechanism remains controversial and unclear
QuidProQuo_Clarice t1_iyt4998 wrote
Reply to comment by 99OBJ in Researchers claim a human trial with 90 people has shown a simple laser therapy improves short-term memory by 25%. The treatment, called transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM), has had claims in previous studies to also improve reaction times, accuracy and attention by lughnasadh
Anesthesiologist here.
Yes and no. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of drugs that can be used to induce anesthesia. All of the common intravenous drugs that I can think of have well-studied mechanisms of action that at least mostly explain their effects. The volatile anesthetics (ie those that are vaporized and inhaled) are not as well understood. Volatile anesthetics were also the first meds used to induce surgical anesthesia (ether), so it's somewhat surprising they have eluded our understanding for so long. We know a lot about the effects these drugs have on different organ systems, and there are some studies that shed light on different mechanistic elements, but overall their mechanism remains controversial and unclear