The purpose of this this report is to investigate the effects of Nitrous Oxide commonly known as laughing gas on the brain and therefore the ability to feel pain. This research is being under taken to find out how nitrous oxide works, how it effects the brain, how it can damage the body and the production process. Pain is an unpleasant and unavoidable feeling that is caused by an injury or an illness. Pain is something that everyone goes though, it is inevitable. There are many sedatives that help you cope with pain they come in gas, pill or liquid forms. Nitrous Oxide comes in a gas or liquid form. It depends on the level of pain for the amount of sedative you need, for cases that aren’t serious e.g. Headache, a person would take a pill form of a sedative and for more serious cases e.g. Severe cut, a person would take a gas or some liquid forms of a sedative. Alcohol and illegal drugs are also types of sedatives but are mainly not used for pain. This research report shows descriptive information about Nitrous Oxide, how it is made, what effects on has on the brain and how a person feels pain, whilst using the drug.



Background 

Nitrous Oxide is produced by heating ammonium nitrate at the temperature of 250 degrees Celsius. The melted ammonium nitrate is them put into a pot of aluminium which is heated by electrical heaters to keep it molten. To make sure the production goes as well as possible ammonium Di hydrogen Phosphate is added. Undecomposed ammonium gas is produced from the aluminium pot along with steam, the ammonium gas is extremely hot and passes through the condensing coil but the steam condenses which is then used as a reflux for the primary scrubber, the primary scrubber removes harmful materials from gases. The gas passes through a water scrubber where the water soluble impurities are removed. The gas then passes through a caustic scrubber which them removes the oxides of nitrogen. After all the oxides of nitrogen are removed there are still impurities like ammonia and nitrogen. The gas then passes through an acid tower sulphuric acid is circulated and removes the ammonia. The gas is then stored in a gas holder and to get rid of the nitrogen impurities it is compressed. The nitrous Oxide is then liquefied and stored.

Figure 1 – production process of Nitrous Oxide

Nitrous Oxide is presented as a colourless gas that is compressed into liquid, it is sweet scented and has a slight sweet taste to it. Nitrous oxide is soluble in alcohol, ether, oils and sulphuric acid. Nitrous Oxide has a molar mass of 44.0128g/mol. The Melting point of nitrous oxide is -90.81 degrees Celsius and the boiling point is -88.46 degrees Celsius. The density of Nitrous Oxide is 1.799 g/L at 25 degrees Celsius and standard pressure.  When Nitrous Oxide is inhaled it passes through the alveoli which is in the lungs and enters the bloodstream and it does it so well and so quick which makes the reaction really quick. Nitrous Oxide also leaves the body really quick only minutes after it is stopped being inhaled. Nitrous oxide is safe to use but if a person uses it to often it becomes unsafe and it dissolves in the bloodstream and reduces the amount of oxygen going to the brain and causes a person to pass out. Nitrous oxide can cause Apoptosis, which is the death of brain cells. It’s mainly children and the elderly who suffer from apoptosis but it can happen to anyone who uses high levels of the gas. Nitrous Oxide reduces the amount of oxygen going to the brain and if the nitrous oxide isn’t mixed with enough oxygen then it causes you to pass out which can be very dangerous if you use the drug unpermitted.  

Myeloneuropathy is also caused by nitrous oxide, Myeloneuropathy is when the myelin (material covering the neurons) in the brain gets damaged. This can slow down and stop brain functions, because nitrous oxide affects the body’s ability to use vitamin B12 which is a vitamin essential for myelin. 

Discussion 

Nitrous Oxide effects many different things in your body and one of the things is the ability to feel pain. The body feels nociceptive pain because when a person does something painful such as stepping on a rock or cutting your finger, the sensory receptors in the skin send a message through the nerve fibres to the brain, where the pain is then registered and you become aware of it. When your body feels pain a reflex response occurs in your spinal cord. Motor neurons are then activated and the muscles in the area of pain then moves you away from the painful object, this happens in just a fraction of a second. That’s why it’s important to have a sedative like Nitrous oxide during surgery. 
Nitrous oxide sedates your whole body. Sedative medication helps a person relax and reduce their sense of pain, a person is still awake and aware of their surroundings but you feel light headed and in some cases hallucination can occur. Sedatives work by slowing brain functions by effecting the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Neurotransmitters are brain chemicals that that conduct communication between brain cells. When the neurotransmitters are effected then the whole body goes into an almost sleep and you can hardly move, you can hardly feel anything and your reflexes don’t work like they’re supposed to. 

Conclusion

In conclusion to this report we have discussed The effects of Nitrous Oxide on the brain and therefore the ability to feel pain. Nitrous Oxide is known as many different things for example laughing gas, happy gas, N2O and many more. Nitrous oxide is known as non-addictive drug but can be addictive if you use it to much, it is one of the most common drugs used for surgical purposes that are not too serious. There are many different topics about Nitrous Oxide. In the background section the topics that were mainly discussed were the production process, how Nitrous Oxide effects the brain and the chemical properties of nitrous oxide. In the discussion section we gave information about the ‘x’ which mine was the ability to feel pain. The discussion included why we feel pain and how we feel pain, it also includes how nitrous oxide is linked with pain. 

Public Education Piece

My public education piece is a slide show to advise the general public of the information learned during this research assignment.