Effects of nitrous oxide on auditory cortical evoked potentials and subjective thresholds.
H G Houston, R J McClelland, P B Fenwick
British Journal of Anaesthesia November 1988 DOI: 10.1093/bja/61.5.606 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Experimental study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 10 |
| Population | Subjects with normal hearing |
| Intervention | Nitrous oxide |
| Dose | 0%, 10%, 20%, 40% end-tidal concentrations |
| Measures | Cortical auditory evoked potentials (AEP), pure tone thresholds |
| Key findings | Increasing end-tidal nitrous oxide (0%, 10%, 20%, 40%) produced systematic decreases in the amplitude and latency of cortical auditory evoked potentials along with an increase in evoked potential threshold. The amplitude change was largely accounted for by the threshold increase, and subjective pure-tone thresholds were unaffected, indicating the AEP changes were independent of subjective hearing level. |
Abstract
This study has examined the effects of inhaled nitrous oxide on the N1 and P2 components of the cortical auditory evoked potentials (AEP) in the latency interval 80-300 ms after the stimulus. The amplitudes, latencies and thresholds of the AEP were measured at a range of end-tidal nitrous oxide concentrations (0%, 10%, 20%, 40%) in 10 subjects with normal hearing. Systematic decreases in amplitude and latency were observed with an increase in threshold. A study of the effect of stimulus intensity on AEP amplitude showed that the amplitude change with nitrous oxide was accounted for largely by systematic increase in evoked potential threshold. Subjective pure tone thresholds were not affected by the concentrations of nitrous oxide used, indicating that the AEP changes were independent of subjective hearing level.