Commercial heparin solution investigated in vitro after reported impaired nerve function in a patient.
Exposure to commercial heparin solution caused rapid conduction failure in frog sciatic nerve preparations. The toxic substance was not the heparin itself, but the 0,5% phenol preservative. Phenol solutions with concentrations between 0,1% and 5% caused a dose-dependent nerve failure, which manifested as a progressive decline in compound action potential amplitude. Care must be taken in the administration of any solution preserved with phenol, to prevent nerve damage.
D000818:Animals; D004594:Electrophysiology; D006493:Heparin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D010636:Phenols / Q000494:pharmacology; D012584:Sciatic Nerve / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D014981:Xenopus
D010636:Phenols; D006493:Heparin