Hey all. So I went to the doctors today and had him remove a few moles. Before cutting the moles out, the doctor injects a local anaesthetic to numb the area to ensure you don’t feel anything.
I’m curious, how does anaesthetic work – you can still feel that somethings happening at the site, but you feel no pain? Would be very interested to know.
Thanks in advance!
In: 8
On a molecular level, drugs like lidocaine will block the voltage-gated, sodium channels that normally allow nerves to propagate a pain signal to the brain.
I believe lidocaine has to block these sodium channels from inside the nerve. So it has to be able to be absorbed into the nerve, then block the channel.
There’s a cartoon on this link that explains it.
https://www.sfn.org/sitecore/content/Home/BrainFacts2/Thinking-Sensing-and-Behaving/Pain/2016/Pain-Therapies-102516
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