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We can make plants pass out—with the same drugs that mysteriously knock us out

Just like humans, plants can succumb to the effects of general anesthetic drugs [open, DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcx155], researchers report this week in the Annals of Botany. The finding is striking for a variety of reasons—there's the pesky fact that plants lack a central nervous system, for one thing. But, perhaps more noteworthy is that scientists still aren't sure how general anesthetics work on humans—let alone plants. Despite that, doctors have been using the drugs daily for more than a century to knock people out and avert pain during surgeries and other medical procedures. Yet the drugs' exact effects on our body's cells and electrical signals remain elusive.

The authors of the new study, led by Italian and German plant biologists, suggest that plants could help us—once and for all—figure out the drugs' mechanism of action. Moreover, the researchers are hopeful that after that's sorted out, plants could be a useful tool to study and develop new anesthetic drugs. "As plants in general, and the model plant [Arabidopsis] thaliana in particular, are suitable to experimental manipulation (they do not run away) and allow easy electrical recordings, we propose them as ideal model objects to study anaesthesia and to serve as a suitable test system for human anaesthesia," they conclude.

For the study, Stefano Mancuso of the University of Florence and František Baluška of the University of Bonn, along with colleagues, rounded up a variety of plants known for their movement. This includes the famous Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipulaI) and the creeping herb Mimosa pudica (sometimes called a shy plant), whose leaves fold inward when touched. The researchers also gathered carnivorous sundew plants (Drosera capensis), which have vibrant, sticky tentacles that bend to ensnare prey. Last, the researchers looked at growing pea tendrils, which twirl around as they grow upward.

Original Submission