Can age-related mitochondrial dysfunction affect volatile anesthetic potency?

Excerpt

Anesthetic potency is conventionally evaluated using the concept of MAC (minimum alveolar concentration). In a recent balanced anesthesia technique, MAC-awake was assessed as a more important parameter in clinical settings. The former is defined as the volatile anesthetic concentration that produces immobilization in 50 % of patients subjected to a noxious stimulus, and the latter is defined as the concentration that suppresses appropriate response to commands in 50 % of patients; memory is usually lost at this concentration. It is well established that opioid administration reduces the MAC of volatile anesthetics and the plasma concentration (C _p) of propofol required to prevent movement in response to noxious stimuli [1, 2]; however, opioids have little effect on MAC-awake and the C _p of propofol required for suppression of response to commands [3, 4]. …