The inhibition of calcium efflux from rat liver mitochondria by halogenated anesthetics

The halogenated anesthetics halothane, enflurane and isoflurane inhibit the calcium efflux induced by Ruthenium Red in isolated rat liver mitochondria. The extent of the inhibition is higher for enflurane (approximately 50%) than for either isoflurane (approximately 35%) or halothane (approximately 15%), and does not increase significantly between 0.1 and 0.6-1.0 mM anesthetic. Both the mitochondrial respiratory rate and transmembrane electrical potential are unaffected by the halogenated anesthetics concentrations capable to inhibit the efflux of calcium.