Propofol

Propofol

Did you know that propofol killed the famous singer, songwriter Michael Jackson? You do now. In the year 2009 Michael Jackson was pronounced dead from acute propofol intoxication. The world wide known popstar was given large dosage of propofol by his attending physician, Dr. Conrad Murry. But what is propofol? What are the uses, effects, and dangers of this drug? Through intense research and review I shall discuss the wonders of propofol.

What is propofol?

Propofol is a strong anesthetic commonly used for the induction of general anesthesia in surgery. It is administered intravenously. Propofol’ss chemical formula would be C12H180 with a molecular mass of 178.271 g/mol. It has a milk like appearance and has been referred to as the milk of amnesia. Propofol has a pH level of 6 to 8.5. It is composed of 100mg/mL soybean oil, 22.5mg/mL of glycerol, and 12mg/mL of egg lecithin, and 0.005% disodium edetate with sodium hydroxide to adjust the pH levels.

History of Propofol

The Imperial Chemical Industries was the one who developed propofol in the year 1976. Originally emulsified into caster oil, it went on its development stage and progressed through out clinical trials before being pulled from the market due to a high number of patients undergoing anaphylactic shock, or an extreme, life-threatening allergic reaction to an antigen.

The first human-used preparations of propofol consists of 2% propofol, 16% Cremophor EL, and 8% ethanol. Ethanol is in the solution to eliminate cloudiness. It was determined that 1% was a suitable concentration for anesthesia, and this lower propofol concentration in Cremophor EL did not require ethanol for clarification. Clinically, injection of propofol in Cremophor EL caused significant pain upon injection. The formulation of 1% without ethanol caused less pain. Developments of propofol with Cremophor EL-based continued and over 21 clinical trials were conducted in the year 1977 to 1981 in Europe. Over 1,000...