Structural specificity of barbiturates and related drugs

Abstract

On the basis of a review of the literature with 44 references cited, it is concluded that different structurally selective target sites are involved in the anesthetic, antielectroshock, and antipentylenetetrazol activities of drugs which display two or more of these effects. Indeed, for any given drug, each activity appears to be mediated by a single structurally specific target site or, at most, a small group of sites with similar structural requirements. The available evidence provides no reason to suppose that the same site is responsible for this activity in all related drugs, thus rendering extremely unlikely the concept of commonality of sites of action of all or even most anesthetics. Therapeutic implications of these conclusions are discussed.