title: Muscle weakness during tricaine anesthesia.
abstract: An isolated preparation of tadpole tail muscle was used to assess the peripheral effects of tricaine (3-aminobenzoic acid ethyl ester) at anesthetic concentrations and under physiological conditions. The drug effect on the electrically-evoked twitch was tested using short-pulse durations that elicited synaptically mediated effects or longer-duration pulses that stimulated the muscle directly. Tricaine reduced both types of response anesthetic and even subanesthetic concentrations. At steady state concentrations that produced surgical anesthesia in vivo, tricaine reduced the directly evoked response by about half. It is concluded that tricaine anesthesia has a pronounced peripheral effect on neuromuscular function and that direct effect(s) on muscle are a major component.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, School of Medicine, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland 97201-3098, USA.
authors.forename: V D
authors.initials: VD
authors.lastname: Herr
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Sonnenburg
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Courogen
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Fiamengo
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Downes
mesh_terms: D062365:Aminobenzoates / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000633:toxicity*; D000777:Anesthetics / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000633:toxicity*; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000187:drug effects; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007814:Larva; D008839:Microelectrodes; D009129:Muscle Tonus / Q000187:drug effects; D009132:Muscles / Q000187:drug effects*; D011892:Rana catesbeiana; D013623:Tail
chemical_list: D062365:Aminobenzoates; D000777:Anesthetics; C003636:tricaine