Does intrathecal fentanyl decrease the optimal effect site concentration of propofol during spinal anaesthesia?
The EC50 of the effect-site concentration of propofol for sedation decreased from 1.67 ± 0.28 mcg/ml to 0.87 ± 0.15 mcg/ml with the addition of 25 mcg fentanyl to a spinal anaesthetic in patients undergoing urologic surgery.
Our results demonstrate that the efficacy of microtubule destabilization by a pharmacological agent is dependent upon the cellular expression of a microtubule depolymerase. These findings suggest that expression levels of Kif2A, the human kinesin-13 family member, may be an attractive biomarker to assess the effectiveness of anti-microtubule chemotherapies. Knowledge of how MAP expression levels affect the action of anti-microtubule drugs may prove useful for evaluating possible modes of cancer treatment.