Time course of recovery following nitrous oxide administration.

The time course of recovery following a brief exposure to 50% N(2)O in O(2) was assessed using a standard psychomotor test, a subjective ranking of experimental pain, and somatosensory evoked potential recordings. Results of this study suggest that recovery from a brief N(2)O exposure may be prolonged and conventional methods of assessing recovery from CNS active drugs like N(2)O may be inadequate.