Table 1.

Putative anaesthetic, neurotoxic, and neuroprotective targets of general anaesthetics

Target	Anaesthesia	Neurotoxicity	Neuroprotection
Synaptic transmission
GABAA receptors	+	+	+
NMDA receptors	+	+	+
Neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors	+	+
Excitability
Na+ channels	+	+	+
Ca2+ channels	+	+	+
K+ channels	+	+	+
Intracellular signalling
Protein kinase pathways	?		+
Alzheimer precursor protein (APP) processing		+	+
Tau phosphorylation		+	+