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We conducted a study in which the rewarding effects of propofol were assessed in humans, using a discrete-trials choice procedure. Normal healthy volunteers (n= 12) were exposed in a blind fashion to acute bolus injections of 0.6 mg/kg of propofol twice and to a similar volume of Intralipid (R) twice. Then, for the next three sessions, subjects chose which drug (identified by a color code) they wished to receive. We defined propofol choosers if individuals chose propofol two or three times, and nonchoosers if they chose propofol once or not at all. By using a [chi] 2 goodness-of-fit test of a random choice model, the choice distribution differed significantly from a random choice distribution (P< 0.005). Six subjects were choosers: four subjects chose propofol on all three choice occasions and two subjects chose the drug on 2/3 occasions (referred to hereafter as propofol choosers). Six subjects were nonchoosers: five …