Local anesthetic properties of prenylamine.
(1/23)
BACKGROUND: Local anesthetics that produce analgesia of long duration with minimal impairment of autonomic functions are highly desirable for pain management in the clinic. Prenylamine is a known calcium channel blocker, but its local anesthetic blocking effects on voltage-gated sodium channels have not been studied thus far. METHODS: The authors characterized the tonic and use-dependent prenylamine block of native Na(+) channels in cultured rat neuronal GH3 cells during whole cell voltage clamp conditions and the local anesthetic effect of prenylamine by neurologic evaluation of sensory and motor functions of sciatic nerve during neural block in rats. RESULTS: Prenylamine elicits both use-dependent block of Na(+) channels during repetitive pulses (3 microm prenylamine produced 50% block at 5 Hz) and tonic block for both resting and inactivated Na(+) channels. The 50% inhibitory concentration for prenylamine was 27.6 +/- 1.3 microm for resting channels and 0.75 +/- 0.02 microm for inactivated channels. Furthermore, in vivo data show that 10 mm prenylamine produced a complete sciatic nerve block of motor function, proprioceptive responses, and nociceptive responses that lasted approximately 27, 34, and 24 h, respectively. Rats injected with 15.4 mm bupivacaine, a known local anesthetic currently used for pain management, had a significantly shorter duration of blockade (< 2 h) compared with rats injected with prenylamine. CONCLUSIONS: The data presented here demonstrate that prenylamine possesses local anesthetic properties in vitro and elicits prolonged local anesthesia in vivo. (+info)
Amphetamine concentrations in human urine following single-dose administration of the calcium antagonist prenylamine-studies using fluorescence polarization immunoassay (FPIA) and GC-MS.
(2/23)
Prenylamine (R,S-N-(3,3-diphenylpropyl-methyl-2-phenethylamine), a World Health Organization class V calcium antagonist, is known to be metabolized to amphetamine. In this study, amphetamine concentrations after a single-dose administration of prenylamine were determined to check if they reached values that could be of analytical and/or pharmacological importance in clinical and forensic toxicology. Enantiomeric composition of amphetamine was also studied. Five volunteers received a single 120-mg oral dose of prenylamine. Urine samples were analyzed using the Abbott TDx immunoassay Amphetamine/Methamphetamine II and using our routine systematic toxicological analysis (STA) gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) procedure. For quantitation purposes, GC-MS was used in the selected-ion monitoring (SIM) mode (ions m/z 118, 122, 240, 244) after solid-phase extraction (Isolute Confirm HCX) and derivatization (heptafluorobutyric anhydride). Amphetamine-d5 was used as internal standard (IS). Chiral separation of the heptafluorobutyrated amphetamine enantiomers was achieved using an Astec Chiraldex G-PN column. The TDx results showed a great variability for the different volunteers. A urine sample of one volunteer showed results as high as 3200 ng/mL, whereas the urine samples of another volunteer never gave results greater than the TDx detection limit (100 ng/mL). Using the STA procedure, the presence of amphetamine could be confirmed in all urine samples with TDx results greater than the cutoff value (300 ng/mL). Using the GC-MS SIM method, amphetamine concentrations up to 1280 ng/mL were determined. Chiral analysis revealed that both enantiomers of amphetamine were present in the samples with a surplus of the S(+)-enantiomer in the early phase of excretion. Forensic implications are discussed. (+info)
Deficiency in phylloquinone (vitamin K1) methylation affects prenyl quinone distribution, photosystem I abundance, and anthocyanin accumulation in the Arabidopsis AtmenG mutant.
(3/23)
Phylloquinone (vitamin K(1)) is synthesized in cyanobacteria and in chloroplasts of plants, where it serves as electron carrier of photosystem I. The last step of phylloquinone synthesis in cyanobacteria is the methylation of 2-phytyl-1,4-naphthoquinone by the menG gene product. Here, we report that the uncharacterized Arabidopsis gene At1g23360, which shows sequence similarity to menG, functionally complements the Synechocystis menG mutant. An Arabidopsis mutant, AtmenG, carrying a T-DNA insertion in the gene At1g23360 is devoid of phylloquinone, but contains an increased amount of 2-phytyl-1,4-naphthoquinone. Phylloquinone and 2-phytyl-1,4-naphthoquinone in thylakoid membranes of wild type and AtmenG, respectively, predominantly localize to photosystem I, whereas excess amounts of prenyl quinones are stored in plastoglobules. Photosystem I reaction centers are decreased in AtmenG plants under high light, as revealed by immunoblot and spectroscopic measurements. Anthocyanin accumulation and chalcone synthase (CHS1) transcription are affected during high light exposure, indicating that alterations in photosynthesis in AtmenG affect gene expression in the nucleus. Photosystem II quantum yield is decreased under high light. Therefore, the loss of phylloquinone methylation affects photosystem I stability or turnover, and the limitation in functional photosystem I complexes results in overreduction of photosystem II under high light. (+info)
The effects of prenylamine on single ventricular myocytes of guinea-pig.
(4/23)
1. The action of prenylamine, an antianginal drug, was studied in single ventricular guinea-pig myocytes. In concentrations of 10-50 microM, prenylamine significantly (P less than 0.01) shortened action potentials, and significantly (P less than 0.001) reduced the inward calcium current by 29% to 76% (n = 7). This effect was also present in the presence of adrenoceptor-blockade (with phentolamine and propranolol), and was thus not due to indirect changes in endogenous catecholamine action. 2. Prenylamine did not affect the steady state level of current at the end of long pulses, and does therefore not act by changing time-dependent outward currents. Since the resting potential in the unclamped mode is unchanged during gross changes in action potential duration, it is also unlikely that there are any changes in the background, time-independent potassium conductance. 3. It is concluded that prenylamine has a direct effect on cardiac calcium channels, not mediated by adrenoceptor activation. (+info)
Identification of receptors for platelet-activating factor in rat Kupffer cells.
(5/23)
Ligand binding studies demonstrated that isolated rat Kupffer cells possess high affinity binding sites for platelet-activating factor (1-O-alkyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, AGEPC). AGEPC binding reached saturation within 10 min at 25 degrees C and was reversible. A Scatchard analysis revealed a single class of AGEPC receptors numbering about 10,600 sites/cell and possessing a dissociation constant of 0.45 nM. Similar values for the dissociation constant for AGEPC (0.12 and 0.34 nM) were obtained independently by kinetic analysis of specific AGEPC binding. AGEPC binding was stereospecific and was inhibited by Zn2+ and AGEPC receptor antagonists including BN52021 and U66985. The AGEPC receptor was functionally active since it was shown to mediate arachidonic acid release and eicosanoid production in Kupffer cells, and these events were inhibited by AGEPC receptor antagonist BN52021. The receptor-mediated arachidonic acid release was extracellular calcium-dependent and was abolished by calcium channel blocker prenylamine and by [ethylenebis(oxyethylenenitrilo)]tetraacetic acid, indicating that calcium influx through a receptor-regulated calcium channel in the plasma membrane is involved in the AGEPC-induced arachidonic acid release. It is suggested that rat Kupffer cells have specific and functionally active AGEPC receptors which are involved in signaling mechanisms which govern the production of several other autacoid-type mediators in the liver. (+info)
Intracellular Ca2+-calmodulin system involved in the palytoxin-induced K+ release from rabbit erythrocytes.
(6/23)
Palytoxin (PTX) caused K+ release from rabbit erythrocytes which was dependent on the concentrations of extracellular Ca2+ and PTX. In a Ca2+-free solution, PTX still caused a slow K+ release. An intracellular Ca2+ antagonist, TMB-8, an intracellular Ca2+ chelator, quin 2, and calmodulin inhibitors, prenylamine, W-7 and W-5, inhibited the PTX-induced K+ release in a Ca2+-free solution. These results suggest that the PTX-induced K+ release is dependent on the process including intracellular Ca2+ and calmodulin. (+info)
Calcium channel antagonists. Omega-conotoxin defines a new high affinity site.
(7/23)
The omega-conotoxins, a class of Ca2+ channel antagonists from fish-hunting marine snails, have recently been described (Olivera, B. M., McIntosh, J. M., Zeikus, R., Gray, W. R., Varga, J., Rivier, J., de Santos, V., and Cruz, L. J. (1985) Science, 230, 1338-1343). One of these peptide neurotoxins, omega-conotoxin GVIA, was radiolabeled with iodine, and the 125I-labeled toxin was shown to bind specifically to high affinity sites on chick brain synaptosomes. The toxin-receptor complex was extremely stable; addition of an excess of unlabeled toxin did not cause significant displacement of the labeled toxin after 2 h. Binding competition data suggest that omega-conotoxin defines a new high affinity receptor site affecting voltage-activated Ca2+ channels, distinct from both the verapamil and dihydropyridine target sites. (+info)
Prenylamine-induced contracture of frog skeletal muscle.
(8/23)
1. Experiments were performed to determine the influence of prenylamine on excitation-contraction coupling in frog sartorius muscle. 2. Prenylamine (0.2-1.0 mM) produced a biphasic contracture in skeletal muscle characterized by an initial phasic and subsequent tonic contracture. 3. Neither dantrolene nor procaine blocked the prenylamine-induced contracture. Pretreatment with 100 mM K+ blocked the phasic but not the tonic component of the prenylamine contracture. 4. Prenylamine produced a sustained increase in 45Ca efflux at all concentrations that produce contracture. These concentrations of prenylamine also depressed the action potential, muscle twitch and resting potential. 5. Low concentrations of prenylamine (0.05 mM) which produced neither contracture, 45Ca efflux nor 45Ca influx, depressed the action potential, muscle twitch and K+ contracture. 6. The results suggest that prenylamine not only alters calcium mobility but also membrane permeability to other ions. (+info)