<i>Mimosa pudica</i>,<i>Dionaea muscipula</i>and anesthetics

Luccia, Thiago Paes de Barros De

doi:10.4161/psb.21000

Cited by 30 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…In view of these conditions, we speculate that plant-specific consciousness allows higher plants to behave in an intelligent manner in order to optimize their coping with environmental challenges and diverse stress situations (Trewavas, 2003, 2005, 2009; Trewavas and Baluška, 2011). We offer as indirect and preliminary support of this notion the well-known findings that all organisms, including plants, are sensitive to anesthetics (Milne and Beamish, 1999; Eckenhoff, 2008; De Luccia, 2012). Moreover, intriguingly, stressed and wounded plants produce the powerful anesthetics ethylene and divinyl ether (Luckhardt and Carter, 1923; Powell et al, 1973; Campagna et al, 2003; Fammartino et al, 2007), perhaps as a means to attenuate plant-specific pain perceptions of stressed and wounded plants, allowing effective survival of sessile plants.…”

Section: From Microbial Conscious Cells To Plant Consciousness?supporting

confidence: 64%

Microorganism and filamentous fungi drive evolution of plant synapses

Baluška¹,

Mancuso²

2013

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.

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In the course of plant evolution, there is an obvious trend toward an increased complexity of plant bodies, as well as an increased sophistication of plant behavior and communication. Phenotypic plasticity of plants is based on the polar auxin transport machinery that is directly linked with plant sensory systems impinging on plant behavior and adaptive responses. Similar to the emergence and evolution of eukaryotic cells, evolution of land plants was also shaped and driven by infective and symbiotic microorganisms. These microorganisms are the driving force behind the evolution of plant synapses and other neuronal aspects of higher plants; this is especially pronounced in the root apices. Plant synapses allow synaptic cell–cell communication and coordination in plants, as well as sensory-motor integration in root apices searching for water and mineral nutrition. These neuronal aspects of higher plants are closely linked with their unique ability to adapt to environmental changes.

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Section: From Microbial Conscious Cells To Plant Consciousness?supporting

confidence: 64%

Microorganism and filamentous fungi drive evolution of plant synapses

Baluška¹,

Mancuso²

2013

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.

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“…Similar studies with ether and chloroform, with the same outcome, were performed and published by Marcet in 1848, LeClerc in 1853, Pfeffer in 1873, Charles Darwin in 1875, Elfving in 1886, Haberlandt in 1890, and Francis Darwin in 1905. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] Recent studies on Mimosa and Dionea, as well as on maize roots, confirm these early findings, [19][20][21][22][23][24][25] suggesting that animals and plants have similar sensorymotoric basis, which is sensitive to the same anesthetics, [26][27][28] as proposed by Claude Bernard, Charles Darwin, and Jagadish Chandra Bose more than 100 years ago.…”

Section: Older and Recent Studies On Sensitivity Of Plants To Anesthementioning

confidence: 93%

Plant anesthesia supports similarities between animals and plants

Grémiaux¹,

Yokawa

Mancuso

et al. 2014

Plant Signaling & Behavior

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The French scientist Claude Bernard (1813-1878) is famous for his discoveries in physiology and for introducing rigorous experimental methods to medicine and biology. One of his major technical innovations was the use of chemicals in order to disrupt normal physiological function to test hypotheses. But less known is his conviction that the physiological functions of all living organisms rely on the same underlying principles. He hypothesized that similarly to animals, plants are also able to sense changes in their environment. He called this ability "sensitivity." In order to test his ideas, he performed anesthesia on plants and the results of these experiments were presented in 1878 in "Leçonssur les phénomènes de la vie communs aux animaux et aux végétaux." The phenomena described by Claude Bernard more than a century ago are not fully understood yet. Here, we present a short overview of anesthetic effects in animals and we discuss how anesthesia affects plant movements, seed germination, and photosynthesis. Surprisingly, these phenomena may have ecological relevance, since stressed plants generate anesthetics such as ethylene and ether. Finally, we discuss Claude Bernard's interpretations and conclusions in the perspective of modern plant sciences.

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“…Millions of surgical procedures are performed each year, most of which would be unthinkable if GAs did not exist. However, although the first clinical anesthesia with diethyl ether was reported over 160 y ago (1), the mechanism by which the same GAs act on animals as far apart in evolution as paramecia and man (2)-and even plants (3)(4)(5)-is still unclear. In 2005, GA was included in a Science list of major unsolved problems in the august company of cancer, quantum gravity, and hightemperature superconductivity (6).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Electron spin changes during general anesthesia in Drosophila

Turin

Skoulakis

Horsfield

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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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.

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Mimosa pudica,Dionaea muscipulaand anesthetics

Cited by 30 publications

References 22 publications

Microorganism and filamentous fungi drive evolution of plant synapses

Microorganism and filamentous fungi drive evolution of plant synapses

Plant anesthesia supports similarities between animals and plants

Electron spin changes during general anesthesia in Drosophila

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