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BJA Advance Access originally published online on May 12, 2009
British Journal of Anaesthesia 2009 103(1):50-60; doi:10.1093/bja/aep092
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© The Author [2009]. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Board of Directors of the British Journal of Anaesthesia. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournal.org

What makes a molecule an anaesthetic? Studies on the mechanisms of anaesthesia using a physicochemical approach

J. W. Sear*

Nuffield Department of Anaesthetics, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK

* E-mail: john.sear{at}nda.ox.ac.uk

Recent studies of mechanisms of anaesthesia have been mainly ‘target orientated’, investigating the activity of both volatile and i.v. agents at putative sites of action. An alternative approach is one that is ‘ligand orientated’, focusing on the properties of molecules that define their immobilizing ability and secondly define their potency. The use of conventional descriptors (such as non-polar solubility or the octanol–water partition coefficient [Log P]) are limited in their utility as predictors of potency as they represent three-dimensional molecular properties as a one-dimensional parameter. Using different computer-based molecular modelling methods (molecular similarity studies and comparative molecular field analysis [CoMFA]), we have identified the molecular bases of the activity of structurally diverse anaesthetics, such that they can be described as a single model based on the spatial distribution of molecular bulk and electrostatic potential. The same approach can also be used to model other properties of anaesthetic agents, such as cardiovascular depression. The present data suggest that, for the i.v. agents, it may be difficult to separate immobilizing (anaesthetic) activity and cardiovascular depression within a single molecule.

Keywords: anaesthetics i.v.; anaesthetics volatile; comparative molecular field analysis; model, computer simulation; theories of anaesthetic agent action, molecular


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