The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics
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J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. · Jul 1995
Naloxone-induced and spontaneous reversal of depressed ventilatory responses to hypoxia during and after continuous infusion of remifentanil or alfentanil.
Remifentanil is a new mu opioid analgesic of the synthetic phenylpiperidine class. It has an extremely short half-life (10-20 min) due to its breakdown by nonspecific estrases. We studied the effects of continuous infusion of remifentanil, compared with alfentanil, on the respiratory response to hypoxia. ⋯ A significant difference was noted between the two doses of remifentanil. Naloxone administration was associated with reversal of the depressed hypoxic responses during the infusion of alfentanil and the low dose of remifentanil. Termination of remifentanil infusion was associated with a prompt spontaneous recovery of the blunted hypoxic responses that was not detected with alfentanil.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. · Jul 1995
Actions of the general anesthetic propofol on recombinant human GABAA receptors: influence of receptor subunits.
The intravenous general anesthetic 2,6-diisopropylphenol (propofol) potentiates GABAA receptor function, but the precise mechanisms and specificity of this action are still unclear. To study the influence of receptor subunit composition on the action of propofol, 18 different combinations of cloned cDNAs coding for human brain subunit isoforms of the GABAA receptor, as well as mRNAs from mouse brain, were expressed in Xenopus oocytes, and effects of this anesthetic were investigated by the voltage-clamp technique. ⋯ Larger concentrations (10-25 microM) of propofol produced direct activation of Cl- currents, and this action was dependent on the expression of the beta-subunit of the GABAA receptor and did not correlate with the GABA sensitivity of the receptors. These results suggest that propofol exerts a dual effect on GABAA receptors: a positive modulation of the GABA-mediated action on GABAA receptors that is not influenced by the receptor subunit composition, and a specific interaction with the beta-subunit that directly activates the GABAA receptor-coupled Cl- channel.
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J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. · Jul 1995
Nitric oxide synthase protects the heart against ischemia-reperfusion injury in rabbits.
The role of nitric oxide (NO) in myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury is still controversial. To determine the role of NO in the propagation of myocardial injury in a coronary artery occlusion-reperfusion model, we examined the effect of a competitive NO synthase inhibitor, NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), with and without L-arginine, on the size of the infarct resulting from coronary artery occlusion (30 min) followed by reperfusion (48 hr) in rabbits. L-NAME (300 micrograms/kg, as a bolus, and 100 micrograms/kg/min, i.v.) with and without L-arginine (30 mg/kg, as a bolus, and 10 mg/kg/min, i.v.) was administered immediately before coronary occlusion to 60 min after reperfusion. ⋯ However, the infarct size for the treatment with L-NAME and D-arginine (76.7% +/- 5.7%, n = 6) did not differ from that in the L-NAME-treated rabbits. There was no significant difference in the infarct size between L-arginine-treated (60.1% +/- 7.3%, n = 6) and control rabbits. Rate-pressure products, as an index of myocardial oxygen consumption, were comparable in all the groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)