Propofol
DiprivanPubChem CID 4943 · 3D model
Drag to rotate. Scroll or pinch to zoom.
The fast-acting IV anesthetic that dials up the brain's natural 'calm down' signal (GABA) at a different spot than sleeping pills and anti-anxiety drugs use, working in about a minute and wearing off almost as fast once the infusion stops.
How it works
Propofol is the IV drug anesthesiologists use to put people under for surgery or to keep sedated patients comfortable. Like some anti-anxiety and sleep drugs already on this site, it works on the brain's main 'off switch' — the GABA-A receptor — but it locks onto a different part of that switch, so it isn't simply a stronger version of a sleeping pill. At low doses it turns up how strongly the brain's natural calming signal works; at the higher doses used to put someone to sleep for an operation, it can flip the switch on by itself. What makes propofol distinctive isn't just this mechanism — it's speed: it knocks a patient out within about a minute, and once the infusion stops, the drug moves back out of the brain into other body tissue very quickly, so most patients wake up clear-headed within minutes rather than hours.
What it’s used for
Propofol is approved to put patients to sleep for surgery, to keep them sedated during procedures done while awake but relaxed, and to keep sedated patients comfortable on a breathing machine in the ICU. It's not approved for sedating children in intensive care, and its use for putting very young children to sleep for surgery is limited by age.
- Mechanism
- GABA-A receptor positive allosteric modulator (general anesthetic)
- Drug class
- Small molecule
- Therapeutic area
- CNS / Anesthesia