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anesthetic (an″әs-thet´ik) pertaining to, characterized by, or producing anesthesia. a drug or agent used to abolish the sensation of pain, to achieve adequate muscle relaxation during surgery, to calm fear and allay anxiety, and to produce amnesia for the event. inhalational anesthetic
a gas or volatile liquid that produces general anesthesia when inhaled; the mechanism of action of these agents is thought to involve uptake of the gas in the lipid bilayer of cell
membranes and interaction with the membrane proteins, resulting in inhibition of synaptic transmission of nerve impulses.
For surgical anesthesia, they are usually used with preanesthetic medication. intravenous anesthetic
sedative hypnotic drugs that produce anesthesia in large doses; they can be used alone for brief surgical procedures or for
rapid induction of anesthesia that will then be maintained by inhalational anesthetics. See also neuroleptanalgesia and neuroleptanesthesia. local anesthetic
one that blocks nerve conduction in the region where it is applied; these act by altering permeability of nerve cells to sodium
ions and thus blocking conduction of nerve impulses. They may be applied topically or injected into the tissues.
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