BACKGROUND Recent studies suggest that anesthetics such as isoflurane act in the spinal cord to suppress movement that occurs during noxious stimulation. The authors examined the effect of halothane and thiopental on suppression of noxious-evoked movement using a model of differential anesthetic delivery. They hypothesized that halothane and thiopental, similar to isoflurane, would suppress mov...

OBJECTIVE The potassium disturbance associated with thiopental continuous infusion in neurosurgical patients is well known. However, the effect of propofol continuous infusion on serum potassium levels has not been investigated extensively. METHODS We reviewed the medical records of 60 consecutive patients who received coma therapy or deep sedation for intracranial pressure control using eith...

BACKGROUND This study was designed to determine whether a deep hypnotic state with a bispectral index (BIS) value less than 40 could alleviate withdrawal movement (WM) upon rocuronium injection during anesthesia induction in children. METHODS Finally, 135 healthy children (3-12 years) scheduled for minor elective surgery were studied. Without premedication, anesthesia was induced with thiopen...

BACKGROUND There is conflicting evidence concerning the extent to which the intravenous general anesthetic thiopental acts by enhancing inhibitory gamma-aminobutyric acid-mediated (GABAergic) synaptic transmission or by inhibiting excitatory glutamatergic transmission. Yet there are remarkably few studies on the effects of thiopental on functional synapses. In addition, the degree of stereosele...

Novel miniaturized polyurethane (PU) membrane sensors in an all-solid state graphite support were developed, electrochemically evaluated and used for the assay of thiopental drug. The thiopental (T) sensors are based on the formation of ion-association complexes of thiopental with copper(II) and cobalt(II)-bathophenanthroline (bphen) counter anions as electroactive materials dispersed in a poly...

BACKGROUND Barbiturate coma is used in patients with traumatic brain injury whenever increases in intracranial pressure remain unresponsive to less aggressive therapeutic regimens. However, barbiturate-mediated neuroprotection correlates with lymphopenia, which increases the risk of infection. The mechanisms by which barbiturates lead to lymphopenia remain to be determined. METHODS Freshly is...

OBJECTIVES Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is considered to be one of the most effective treatments in psychiatry. Currently, three medications for anesthesia are used routinely during ECT: propofol, etomidate, and thiopental. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of the anesthetics used in ECT on seizure threshold and duration, hemodynamics, recovery from ECT, and immediate s...

To assess the actions of thiopental at the spinal dorsal horn level, we examined the effects of thiopental using the whole cell patch-clamp technique on mechanically dissociated rat spinal dorsal horn neurons. Thiopental, at large concentrations, elicited a current (I(Thio)) through activation of chloride conductance, and its threshold concentration was approximately 50 microM. I(Thio) was sens...