My Science School

Anaesthesia is given to a patient before a surgery so that he does not feel pain during the procedure. A look at the doctors who pioneered modern anaesthesia.

The word 'anaesthesia' means 'without sensation. It comes from the Greek words an meaning without and aisthesis, meaning 'sensation'. Anaesthesia is given to a patient before a surgery so that he does not feel pain.

Anaesthesia has been used in surgeries since ancient times. Around 600 BCE, Sushruta, known as the founding father of surgery', used cannabis vapours to sedate patients for surgery. For a long time, physicians made use of hypnotherapy, opium, alcohol, etc., but they were not totally effective and had side effects.

On October 16, 1846 (observed today as Ether Day), William T.G. Morton, a dentist and John Collins Warren, a surgeon, made history with their first public demonstration of modern anaesthesia at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, United States. The patient, Glenn Abott, had a tumour on his neck. Morton made him inhale ether vapour until he was suitably sedated, and Warren removed the tumour.  Abott did not feel any pain. Morton called his creation Letheon after the Lethe River in Greek mythology, as its water is believed to erase 'painful memories.

The anaesthesia used today is a mixture of various derivatives of ether and inhalable gases such as nitrous oxide (laughing gas). It is administered by skilled anaesthesiologists through machines that measure the specific amount necessary to keep the patient unconscious during the surgery.

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Did you know there was a time when people undergoing surgery died of infection ? How did it come to an end? Who were the people behind the invention of antiseptics? Read on to find out....

In the latter part of the 19th century, almost 90 per cent of the patients undergoing surgery in London hospitals died of septic infections after their operations. The infection was spread by the surgeons hands, through unclean instruments and bandages and by the general filth that prevailed in the hospitals.

Then, in the early 1850s, a surgeon at the Vienna General Hospital, Ignaz Semmelweis, introduced a sterilising routine. He had all students and surgeons scrub their hands vigorously in a calcium chloride solution before touching patients.

The result was dramatic. The death rate in the hospital due to infection fell by 90 per cent in two years. The second medical man to try out antiseptics was the Professor of Surgery at Glasgow University, Joseph Lister. He felt that the only way to kill germs was to treat the environment with antiseptic. He applied carbolic acid to the surface of wounds, to pre-boiled dressings and surgical instruments. He invented a spray which sent a fine mist of carbolic acid into the air above the operating table.

Antiseptics enabled Lister to perform major operations with success, something that had not been possible before. Later antiseptics became widely accepted, saving a huge number of lives.

In a research breakthrough, scientists have created world's first synthetic embryo with a brain and a beating heart. The scientists used only stem cells to create synthetic mouse embryo models. Replete with a beating heart, and a brain, the embryo was created sans sperm, eggs and fertilisation.

The feat was achieved by researchers from the University of Cambridge. The team was led by Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz. The result was the creation of a beating heart and brain. The work is the result of decades-long research.

The new findings will aid in reaching a better understanding about how tissues are formed during the natural course of development, that is in the case of natural embryos.

The breakthrough is key because it opens new frontiers for learning how the stem cells form into organs in the embryo. In the future, this could help grow organs and tissues using synthetic embryo models. They are called synthetic embryos as they are made without fertilised eggs. This will be a game-changer for human organ transplantation as transplantable tissues can be created thus.

"Our mouse embryo model not only develops a brain but also a beating heart, all the components that go on to make up the body," said Zemicka-Goetz, Professor in Mammalian Development and Stem Cell Biology in Cambridge's Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience in a release issued by the university.

"The stem cell embryo model is important because it gives us accessibility to the developing structure at a stage that is normally hidden from us due to the implantation of the tiny embryo into the mother’s womb. This accessibility allows us to manipulate genes to understand their developmental roles in a model experimental system." Zernicka-Goetz added in the release.

For the development of the synthetic embryo, cultured stem cells representing the types of tissues were put together in a suitable environment that aided in their growth. One of the major achievements of the study is the growth of the entire brain, especially the anterior part of the brain.

The present research was being carried out in mouse models and the researchers plan to develop human models. This will aid in studying those aspects of the organs that would not be possible in real embryos.

The researchers are also developing an analogous model of the human embryo to further their studies. This is crucial as all these findings can help understand why some human pregnancies fail.  The understanding at the embryo level is crucial as the majority of human pregnancies fail at the developmental stage.

WHAT ARE STEM CELLS?

Our body is home to hundreds of types of cells. A majority of them begin as stem cells. They carry within them instructions to develop into specialised cells such as muscle, blood or brain cell. In short, stem cells are human cells that grow into different cell types ranging from brain cells to nerve cells. They can be used to treat damaged tissues. Stem cell-based therapies are being carried out for serious medical conditions such as Alzheimer's, Parkinsons' and other genetic disorders.

MAJOR BREAKTHROUGHS IN STEM CELL RESEARCH

1981:  Embryonic stem cells identified in mice for the first time by Martin Evans of Cardiff University, UK.

1997:  The first artificial animal clone, Dolly the sheep, created. It was a turning point in stem cell research.

1998:  Human embryonic stem cells were isolated and grown in the lab. 2007 The Nobel Prize in Medicine, 2007, was given to Mario R. Capecchi, Sir Martin J. Evans and Oliver Smithies "for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells."

2012:  Human embryonic stem cells used in two patients. It helped improve their vision.

2022:  The Ogawa-Yamanaka Stem Cell Prize was awarded to Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte for his work on cellular rejuvenation programming aimed at improving age-associated diseases.

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An eminent pioneer in the field was Charles Richard Drew, whose work on the banking of blood products and the logistics of collecting and distributing blood saved countless lives in the trenches of World War II and the wards of military and civilian hospitals. American researcher, Charles Richard Drew, pioneered the concept of a ‘blood bank. While researching for his doctorate in the medical field, he took up the job of a supervisor at the blood plasma division of the Blood Transfusion Association in New York City. There he found by separating the liquid red blood cells from the near solid plasma and freezing the two separately, blood could be preserved and reconstituted at a later date. He published his findings in an article called 'Banked Blood', where he referred to the process of collecting and storing blood as 'banking' it.

Drew's method for storing of blood plasma revolutionised the medical profession by helping save countless lives all over the world.

The newest concept in blood banks is the storing of umbilical cord blood, which contains stem cells that can be used to cure diseases.

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