{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,30]],"date-time":"2026-10-30T07:32:15Z","timestamp":1793345535658,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,23]],"date-time":"2026-01-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769126400000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["lww.com","ovid.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,6]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title\/>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      In the literature, anesthetic agents are commonly described as if their hypnotic action is mediated by a predominant molecular target, using terminology such as \u201cGABAergic\u201d or \u201cNMDAergic.\u201d The justification for this is unclear. The authors might thereby imply a single target hypothesis (ie, the named target is the sole or predominant molecular mechanism for that agent); or that in an in vitro dose-response plot, the potency or efficacy of this agent is distinctly (ie, several orders of magnitude) highest for interaction with the named target as compared with others. We explored if this last was the case, through review of data reported across 310 in vitro studies. We found that all but a few agents were highly \u201cpromiscuous,\u201d influencing several different molecular targets with similar potency, making it difficult to justify that any one was predominant. Notably, propofol, often cited as a \u201ctypical GABAergic agent\u201d in fact shows higher potency at nicotinic receptors and HCN ion channels than for GABA\n                      <jats:sub>A<\/jats:sub>\n                      receptors (GABA\n                      <jats:sub>A<\/jats:sub>\n                      Rs). Exceptions to promiscuity were, to an extent, etomidate and dexmedetomidine, which were relatively \u201cmonogomous\u201d for GABA\n                      <jats:sub>A<\/jats:sub>\n                      R and \u03b12-adrenoreceptors, respectively, and ketamine for NMDA receptors. Moreover, molecular targets were also promiscuous for which agents they were influenced by. This was in a manner that did not always correspond to the \u201cpreference\u201d of an agent for a receptor. We discuss how this mutual promiscuity is consistent with a multi-site mechanism of anesthetic action.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1213\/ane.0000000000007888","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,26]],"date-time":"2026-01-26T23:00:10Z","timestamp":1769468410000},"page":"1039-1049","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1097\/lww.0000000000001000","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Are \u201cGABAergic\u201d Agents Really So Selective for GABA? Implications for Single- versus Multi-Site Hypotheses From Promiscuous Behavior of Anesthetics and Their Molecular Targets In Vitro"],"prefix":"10.1213","volume":"142","author":[{"given":"Kush M.","family":"Kale","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Nuffield Department of Anaesthetics, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Peter A.","family":"Goldstein","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anesthesiology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York"},{"name":"Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York"},{"name":"Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jaideep J.","family":"Pandit","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nuffield Department of Anaesthetics, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK"},{"name":"Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"276","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"R1-20260519","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"599","DOI":"10.1038\/310599a0","article-title":"Do general anaesthetics act by competitive binding to specific receptors?","volume":"310","author":"Franks","year":"1984","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"R2-20260519","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"603","DOI":"10.1097\/00000542-196509000-00003","article-title":"Effects of diethyl ether and halothane on firefly luciferin bioluminescence.","volume":"26","author":"Ueda","year":"1965","journal-title":"Anesthesiology"},{"key":"R3-20260519","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"607","DOI":"10.1038\/367607a0","article-title":"Molecular and cellular mechanisms of general anaesthesia.","volume":"367","author":"Franks","year":"1994","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"R4-20260519","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"937","DOI":"10.1097\/ALN.0000000000000841","article-title":"Clinical electroencephalography for anesthesiologists. 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