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Consciousness, Neurons, And Laughing Gas, Dody Michelson Orendurff

Dissertations and Theses

Psychological and physiological effects of nitrous oxide resemble those of eight other drug categories. Lipid solubility or hydrate microcrystal theories correlate behavioral measures with measurable parameters of the molecule N₂O. N₂O, a spindle poison, halts mitosis in metaphase, producing widespread physiological consequences. N₂O affects the microtubules of the spindle in a number of specific ways. Microtubules are utilized in other parts of eukaryotic cells, in a wide variety of functions. In neurons, microtubules build and maintain dendritic sensory processes. Since microtubules are built of two dissimilar proteins, constantly assemble and disassemble, and maintain a …