Sedation and analgesia strategies in the neuro intensive care unit

Figure 1 Schematic of the molecular mechanism showing the primary targets of opioid agonists[41]. AC: Adenylate cyclase; cAMP: Cyclic adenosine monophosphate; GDP: Guanosine diphosphate; Glu: Glutamate; GTP: Guanosine-5′-triphosphate; PKA: Protein kinase A. Citation: Marcianò G, Vocca C, Evangelista M, Palleria C, Muraca L, Galati C, Monea F, Sportiello L, De Sarro G, Capuano A, Gallelli L. The Pharmacological Treatment of Chronic Pain: From Guidelines to Daily Clinical Practice. Pharmaceutics 2023; 15: 1165 Copyright© The Authors 2023. Published by MDPI, Basel, Switzerland (https://www.mdpi.com/openaccess).

Figure 2 Schematic of the molecular mechanism showing the primary targets of GABA_A agonists[68]. Citation: Paramsothy J, Gutlapalli SD, Ganipineni VDP, Mulango I, Okorie IJ, Arrey Agbor DB, Delp C, Apple H, Kheyson B, Nfonoyim J, Isber N, Yalamanchili M. Propofol in ICU Settings: Understanding and Managing Anti-Arrhythmic, Pro-Arrhythmic Effects, and Propofol Infusion Syndrome. Cureus 2023; 15: E40456 Copyright© The Authors 2023. Published by Springer Nature (https://www.cureus.com/author_guide#!/policies-and-procedures/copyright-and-licensing).

Figure 3 Schematic of the molecular mechanism showing the primary targets of α-2 agonists[83]. Citation: Bargnes V 3rd, Oliver B, Wang E, Greenspan S, Jin Z, Yeung I, Bergese S. Taming Postoperative Delirium with Dexmedetomidine: A Review of the Therapeutic Agent's Neuroprotective Effects following Surgery. Pharmaceuticals (Basel) 2023; 16: 1453 Copyright© The Authors 2023. Published by MDPI, Basel, Switzerland (https://www.mdpi.com/openaccess).

Figure 4 Schematic of the molecular mechanism showing the primary targets of N-methyl-D-aspartate and Glutamate Receptor Antagonists[104]. Citation: Mario A, Ivana L, Claudia MM, Antonello B, Francesco P, Tommaso C, Madia L. Can ketamine therapy overcome treatment-resistant depression in Alzheimer's disease and older adults? Preclinical and clinical evidence. Biomed Pharmacother 2025; 188: 118199 Copyright© The Authors 2025. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).