Abstract
Molecular mechanisms of anesthetic action are poorly understood. Genetic approaches to investigate mechanisms of anesthesia, although sparse and rather new, are turning out to be informative and add a new perspective. Before beginning a systematic investigation of anesthesia by this approach, it is necessary to have at hand a large collection of mutations in different loci that alter anesthetic response. We report here the isolation and characterization of six mutant autosomal lines that show a decreased sensitivity to the inhalation of anesthetic halothane. Two of these mutations, Omar(82) and Qajjem(211) are shown to map to separate loci on the third chromosome.
