this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2025
326 points (97.7% liked)

Science Memes

12359 readers
3393 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.

Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.

Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
326
Xenon (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 4 days ago by threelonmusketeers to c/[email protected]
24 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Source

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 50 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (7 children)

Xenon is a drug?

Drugs.com calls it "physiologically inert" with some anaesthetic effects at high doses. Most of the coverage is about Xe-133 radiopharmacology and not what most people would think of as a "drug". Is there more to the story?

https://www.drugs.com/pro/xenon-xe-133-gas.html

[–] threelonmusketeers 17 points 4 days ago

Is there more to the story?

Not that I'm aware of. I'm assuming Tom was referring to its anaesthetic effects, which I don't think have been widely studied.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 days ago (1 children)

iirc it's a dissociative.

I remember Hamilton's pharmacopeia doing an episode on it. Apparently it is/was popular in Russia.

Here's a video of Hamilton doing some: https://youtu.be/dj25HO48Gxw

[–] anomnom 2 points 3 days ago

Is it me or is he just slightly asphyxiated after the first breath?

We messed with sulfur hexaflouride a while back, and it’s kinda difficult to exhale it all without putting your head between your knees and breathing hard.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It works by dispersing oxygen from the blood. The lack of oxygen gives you a high. Which is can turn deadly if you don't unhook when passing out.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Isn't that the same as Nitrogen, like [email protected] said? That doesn't sound like there's any unique mechanism to Xenon.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

Correct

[–] Tar_alcaran 9 points 4 days ago

At the worst, you can use it like people use nitrogen. To get a very brief high from lack of oxygen (and then possibly die)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Don't listen to the people who say it works by displacing oxygen. It would never be used as a general anesthetic if that was the mechanism of action.

Xenon has been used as a general anesthetic, but it is more expensive than conventional anesthetics.

Xenon is a high-affinity glycine-site NMDA receptor antagonist.[155] However, xenon is different from certain other NMDA receptor antagonists in that it is not neurotoxic and it inhibits the neurotoxicity of ketamine and nitrous oxide (N2O), while actually producing neuroprotective effects.[156][157] Unlike ketamine and nitrous oxide, xenon does not stimulate a dopamine efflux in the nucleus accumbens.[158]

Xenon has a minimum alveolar concentration (MAC) of 72% at age 40, making it 44% more potent than N2O as an anesthetic.[164] Thus, it can be used with oxygen in concentrations that have a lower risk of hypoxia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenon

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

I didn't think to check Wikipedia for pharmacology info haha. Thanks.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

oh, so it's a "medicine drug"...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Yeah. If you spray it on a hammer and hit someone's head with it, it knocks them right out.