High pressure neurological syndrome: antagonistic effects of helium pressure and inhalation anesthetics on the dopamine-sensitive cyclic AMP response.

The antagonistic effects of helium pressure and certain inhalation anesthetics on the dopamine-sensitive cAMP response in the caudate nucleus of rat brain were examined. Helium pressure suppressed basal, dopamine-stimulated, and anesthetic-stimulated cAMP levels. These data indicate that by reversing the effects of pressure on dopaminergic transmission in the brain, inhalation ahesthetics may account for the improvement of some clinical symptoms of high pressure neurological syndrome (HPNS).