Mystery of anesthetics: Despite lack of central nervous system, plants too ‘pass out’ from ‘knock out’ drugs

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Just like humans, plants can succumb to the effects of general anesthetic drugs, researchers report in the Annals of Botany. The finding is striking for a variety of reasons—there’s the pesky fact that plants lack a central nervous system, for one thing. But, perhaps more noteworthy is that scientists still aren’t sure how general anesthetics work on humans—let alone plants. Despite that, doctors have been using the drugs daily for more than a century to knock people out and avert pain during surgeries and other medical procedures. Yet the drugs’ exact effects on our body’s cells and electrical signals remain elusive.

The authors of the new study, led by Italian and German plant biologists, suggest that plants could help us—once and for all—figure out the drugs’ mechanism of action.

In all cases, the anesthetics temporarily caused the plants to go still and unresponsive. The Venus flytrap’s spikey trap didn’t slam shut when poked. The shy plant was no longer shy; it’s leaves stayed open when gently brushed. Similarly, the sundew plants didn’t bend to capture dead fruit flies and the pea plant’s tendrils drooped and curled up instead of whirling in normal upward fashion.

Read full, original post: We can make plants pass out—with the same drugs that mysteriously knock us out

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