Life sciences
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Comparative Study
Utilization of aspirin, quinine and verapamil in the prevention and treatment of scorpion venom intoxication.
Aside from serotherapy, the treatment of scorpion venom intoxication is symptomatic. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of drugs usually used in scorpion venom intoxications (atropine, propranolol) to that of other compounds, chosen in light of the pathophysiology of scorpion venom intoxication: dipyridamole, doxapram, quinine formate, lysine-acetyl-salicylate, valproate and verapamil. Using mice, the parameters evaluated were the preventive and therapeutic effects of drugs during experimental venom intoxication by Androctonus australis Hector and one of its toxins AaH 1, and by Buthus occitanus and Tityus serrulatus tunetanus on the other hand. ⋯ As a result of considerable information campaigns, the number of scorpion venom intoxications in Tunisia has dropped from 3000 in 1967 to 1000 per year in the 1980s. Serotherapy has reduced mortality to 0.35%, most deaths occurring in underweight children. In light of the large number of countries in which there is a risk of scorpion venom intoxication in the summertime, however, its prevention and treatment remain a major problem.
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The ability of morphine, fentanyl, butorphanol, nalbuphine, and dezocine to compete with radiolabeled ligands for binding at the mu1, mu2, kappa1, and delta opioid receptors and the sigma receptor was characterized. In the absence of sodium, the potency of opioid receptor competition at each receptor site was found to be: mu1-fentanyl > butorphanol > morphine > or = dezocine = nalbuphine; mu2-butorphanol > fentanyl > nalbuphine > morphine = dezocine; kappa1-butorphanol > nalbuphine > morphine > or = dezocine > fentanyl; and delta-butorphanol > nalbuphine > or = dezocine > morphine > fentanyl. For all five compounds, competition at the sigma receptor was weak, with nalbuphine and dezocine having Kis of approximately 0.5 microM and the other opioids having Kis of greater than 1 microM. Since the presence of 100 mM NaCl during the competitive binding decreased the K(i), to varying degrees, of all five opioids at the mu1 and delta receptors and of some of the opioids at the mu2 and kappa1 receptors, the five compounds studied appear to differ in efficacy at the five receptor sites.
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This study was designed to document possible changes in bupivacaine kinetics in mice after a single 1 mg/kg injection of flumazenil. After a single 20 mg/kg i.p. dose of bupivacaine, C max, Vd, Cl and AUC were not significantly modified by flumazenil; even if T max was shown to be significantly shorter when flumazenil was associated, bupivacaine bioavailability did not seem to be modified and thus may not be involved in the explanation of previously reported increasing bupivacaine-induced mortality by flumazenil.
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Resuscitation from hemorrhagic shock causes hepatic injury that is similar to the hypoxic injury caused by reperfusion after ischemia. This study was designed to describe the relationship between severe hemorrhagic shock, hepatic injury, and lipid peroxidation. Fasted Sprague-Dawley rats underwent shock (mean arterial pressure 40 +/- 5 mm Hg) for two hours followed by reinfusion of shed blood. ⋯ Expired ethane was increased both during shock and after resuscitation. Hepatic content of TBARS remained at baseline levels during shock, but increased after resuscitation. The results suggest that severe, non-fatal hemorrhagic shock and resuscitation produces a modest hepatic injury that is accompanied by lipid peroxidation in the liver.