Clinical and experimental pharmacology & physiology
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Clin. Exp. Pharmacol. Physiol. · Dec 1988
Train-of-four fade during neuromuscular blockade induced by tubocurarine, succinylcholine or alpha-bungarotoxin in the rat isolated hemidiaphragm.
1. Nerve-evoked maximal twitches (T1, T2, T3, T4) of the rat isolated hemidiaphragm to train-of-four (TOF) stimulation (2 Hz X 2 s) were recorded continuously in the absence or presence of tubocurarine (1.5 mumol/l), succinylcholine (40 mumol/l) or alpha-bungarotoxin (1 mumol/l). The T1 and T4 response-time profiles for the three drugs were analysed with respect to amplitude depression and the TOF ratio (T4/T1) during the development of and recovery from neuromuscular blockade. 2. ⋯ Fade is therefore not simply a consequence of postjunctional cholinoceptor blockade. 3. Succinylcholine produced T1 block with only moderate TOF fade; similar recovery rates from 90% T1 block to control levels were obtained for T1 and the TOF ratio. 4. alpha-Bungarotoxin produced irreversible and complete neuromuscular blockade during which TOF fade was virtually absent. 5. The results obtained in this study closely resemble those from other similar studies in animals and in humans and clearly demonstrate that the rat isolated hemidiaphragm is a suitable in vitro model for time course studies on TOF fade.