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Concept

Meyer-Overton correlation

A landmark observation in pharmacology stating that the potency of an anaesthetic is directly proportional to its solubility in lipids. Established around 1900, this correlation suggested that anaesthesia was a physical rather than chemical process, occurring when drugs dissolved into the fatty membranes of neurons. It remained the dominant theory of anaesthesia for nearly a century before being superseded by protein-based models.

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