Trends in pharmacological sciences
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Trends Pharmacol. Sci. · Oct 2005
ReviewEmerging molecular mechanisms of general anesthetic action.
General anesthetics are essential to modern medicine, and yet a detailed understanding of their mechanisms of action is lacking. General anesthetics were once believed to be "drugs without receptors" but this view has been largely abandoned. ⋯ Neurotransmitter-gated ion channels, particularly receptors for GABA and glutamate, are modulated by most anesthetics, at both synaptic and extrasynaptic sites, and additional ion channels and receptors are also being recognized as important targets for general anesthetics. In this article, these developments, which have important implications for the development of more-selective anesthetics, are reviewed in the context of recent advances in ion channel structure and function.