Electron spin changes during general anesthesia in Drosophila

We show that the general anesthetics xenon, sulfur hexafluoride, nitrous oxide, and chloroform cause rapid increases of different magnitude and time course in the electron spin content of Drosophila. With the exception of CHCl(3), these changes are reversible. Anesthetic-resistant mutant strains of Drosophila exhibit a different pattern of spin responses to anesthetic. In two such mutants, the spin response to CHCl(3) is absent. We propose that these spin changes are caused by perturbation of the electronic structure of proteins by general anesthetics. Using density functional theory, we show that general anesthetics perturb and extend the highest occupied molecular orbital of a nine-residue α-helix. The calculated perturbations are qualitatively in accord with the Meyer–Overton relationship and some of its exceptions. We conclude that there may be a connection between spin, electron currents in cells, and the functioning of the nervous system