title: Inhibition of fast axonal transport in vitro by the local anesthetics prilocaine, mepivacaine, and bupivacaine.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to establish the concentrations of prilocaine, mepivacaine, and bupivacaine which are effective at blocking fast axonal transport, to determine whether prilocaine and mepivacaine offer a better prospect of dissociating conduction block and transport block in vivo than does lidocaine and whether bupivacaine offers a better prospect than etidocaine in the same context. Fast axonal transport of [3H]leucine-labeled proteins was studied in vitro in bullfrog spinal nerves and quantitated by liquid scintillation counting. Exposure of spinal nerves to 14 mM prilocaine reduced the quantity of 3H-labeled proteins which accumulated at a ligature by 86%, and exposure to 14 mM mepivacaine reduced it by 70%; 10 mM prilocaine reduced this same parameter by 54%, a degree of inhibition close to the 44% reduction caused by 14 mM lidocaine. The D(-) and L(+) stereoisomers of mepivacaine each reduced transport to the ligature by approximately 50% at a concentration of 14 mM. Bupivacaine reduced the accumulation of 3H-labeled proteins at the ligature by 49% at a 10 mM concentration (pH 6.2); its potency is close to that found for etidocaine in a previous study. Since prilocaine and mepivacaine are at least as potent as lidocaine as transport inhibitors and at blocking impulse conduction, these two anesthetics offer no advantage over lidocaine to achieve dissociation of conduction block from transport block in vivo. Bupivacaine appears to offer no advantage over etidocaine in the same context, as the two agents have a similar potency as local anesthetics and a similar potency as inhibitors of fast axonal transport.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001370:Axonal Transport / Q000187:drug effects*; D002045:Bupivacaine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008619:Mepivacaine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011318:Prilocaine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011892:Rana catesbeiana; D013127:Spinal Nerves / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D011318:Prilocaine; D008619:Mepivacaine; D002045:Bupivacaine