Drugs.com calls it “physiologically inert” with some anaesthetic effects at high doses. Most of the coverage is about Xe-133 radiopharmacology and not what most people would think of as a “drug”. Is there more to the story?
Don’t listen to the people who say it works by displacing oxygen. It would never be used as a general anesthetic if that was the mechanism of action.
Xenon has been used as a general anesthetic, but it is more expensive than conventional anesthetics.
Xenon is a high-affinity glycine-site NMDA receptor antagonist.[155] However, xenon is different from certain other NMDA receptor antagonists in that it is not neurotoxic and it inhibits the neurotoxicity of ketamine and nitrous oxide (N2O), while actually producing neuroprotective effects.[156][157] Unlike ketamine and nitrous oxide, xenon does not stimulate a dopamine efflux in the nucleus accumbens.[158]
Xenon has a minimum alveolar concentration (MAC) of 72% at age 40, making it 44% more potent than N2O as an anesthetic.[164] Thus, it can be used with oxygen in concentrations that have a lower risk of hypoxia.
Is it me or is he just slightly asphyxiated after the first breath?
We messed with sulfur hexaflouride a while back, and it’s kinda difficult to exhale it all without putting your head between your knees and breathing hard.
Xenon is a drug?
Drugs.com calls it “physiologically inert” with some anaesthetic effects at high doses. Most of the coverage is about Xe-133 radiopharmacology and not what most people would think of as a “drug”. Is there more to the story?
https://www.drugs.com/pro/xenon-xe-133-gas.html
Don’t listen to the people who say it works by displacing oxygen. It would never be used as a general anesthetic if that was the mechanism of action.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenon
I didn’t think to check Wikipedia for pharmacology info haha. Thanks.
It works by dispersing oxygen from the blood. The lack of oxygen gives you a high. Which is can turn deadly if you don’t unhook when passing out.
Isn’t that the same as Nitrogen, like Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works said? That doesn’t sound like there’s any unique mechanism to Xenon.
Correct
Not that I’m aware of. I’m assuming Tom was referring to its anaesthetic effects, which I don’t think have been widely studied.
Yeah. If you spray it on a hammer and hit someone’s head with it, it knocks them right out.
iirc it’s a dissociative.
I remember Hamilton’s pharmacopeia doing an episode on it. Apparently it is/was popular in Russia.
Here’s a video of Hamilton doing some: https://youtu.be/dj25HO48Gxw
Is it me or is he just slightly asphyxiated after the first breath?
We messed with sulfur hexaflouride a while back, and it’s kinda difficult to exhale it all without putting your head between your knees and breathing hard.
oh, so it’s a “medicine drug”…
At the worst, you can use it like people use nitrogen. To get a very brief high from lack of oxygen (and then possibly die)