Pharmacological Studies of Methoxycarbonyl Etomidate's Carboxylic Acid Metabolite

Background Methoxycarbonyl etomidate (MOC-etomidate) is a rapidly metabolized and ultra-short acting etomidate analog that does not produce prolonged adrenocortical suppression after bolus administration. Its metabolite (MOC-ECA) is a carboxylic acid whose pharmacology is undefined. We hypothesized that MOC-ECA possesses significantly lower pharmacological activity than MOC-etomidate, accounting for the latter's very brief duration of hypnotic action and inability to produce prolonged adrenocortical suppression after bolus administration. To test this hypothesis, we compared the potencies of MOC-ECA and MOC-etomidate in three biological assays.