How do anesthesia reversal medications work?

Question

I want to know the science behind this and if they bind to receptors or metabolize out. I’m familiar with how reversals like naloxone work.

In: 5

Answer 1

The opioid antagonists like naloxone and naltrexone work by blocking the opioid receptors.

Imagine you have a square hole, the receptor, and a rectangular brick, the opioid. Under normal conditions, the rectangle can fit in the square hole in certain directions but it’s always loose and not perfect. Then comes a square brick, the opioid antagonist: because it fits perfectly in the hole, it knocks the rectangle out of the hole and fits in perfectly, locking itself in there and not letting other rectangles enter