Concentrations of Anesthetics...
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Concentrations of anesthetics across the water-membrane interface; the Meyer-Overton hypothesis revisited

Andrew, Pohorille,tex2html_wrap_inline49 Michael A. Wilson,tex2html_wrap_inline51 Michael H. New,tex2html_wrap_inline51
and Christophe Chipottex2html_wrap_inline55

tex2html_wrap_inline57 Exobiology Branch
NASA -- Ames Research Center
MS 239-4
Moffett Field, California 94035-1000

tex2html_wrap_inline59 Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry,
University of California, San Francisco,
San Francisco, California 94143

tex2html_wrap_inline61 current address:
Laboratoire de Chimie Théorique,
Unité de Recherche Associée au CNRS ntex2html_wrap_inline63 510,
Université Henri Poincaré-Nancy I, BP. 239,
54506 Vandtex2html_wrap67 uvre-lès-Nancy Cedex - France

tex2html_wrap_inline65 corresponding author

Abstract:

The free energies of transferring a variety of anesthetic and nonanesthetic compounds across water-oil and water-membrane interfaces were computed using computer simulations. Anesthetics exhibit greatly enhanced concentrations at these interfaces, compared to nonanesthetics. The substitution of the interfacial solubilites of the anesthetics for their bulk lipid solubilities in the Meyer-Overton relation, was found to give a better correlation, indicating that the potency of an anesthetic is directly proportional to its solubility at the interface.