An investigation was carried out to determine whether the sensitivity of rat tracheal smooth muscle to contractile and relaxant drugs was affected by three weeks' treatment with subcutaneous budesonide before death. Budesonide treatment was associated with a lower thymus weight and a smaller gain in body weight than in control animals. There was, however, no difference in the carbachol concentr...

Carisoprodol, a commonly prescribed muscle relaxant, has adverse effects on human performance and is gaining recognition as a factor in driver impairment and accident causation. Carisoprodol is a centrally acting skeletal muscle relaxant indicated for the relief of musculoskeletal pain. Carisoprodol and its major metabolite meprobamate have central nervous system (CNS) sedating effects similar ...

The plant Wedelia chinensis was found to be used by different traditional systems and folklore for the treatment of various disorders. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect on central nervous system (CNS) of the ethanol extract of Wedelia chinensis whole plant in Swiss albino mice and Wistar rats.The CNS effects were evaluated by general behaviour, exploratory behaviour, mus...

Since the introduction of the short acting muscle relaxant succinyl dicholine (suxamethonium) in 1951 and the subsequent discovery that certain patients exhibited a greater than usual sensitivity to the drug, interest has been directed towards identifying the genetically controlled variants of serum cholinesterase (acylcholine acyl hydrolase E.C. 3.1.1.8). Some of these variants have been found...

The present study was aimed to evaluate the mechanisms involved in the vasorelaxant effects of red wine polyphenol compounds (RWPC) in small mesenteric rat arteries. RWPC produce relaxation in small mesenteric arteries. This relaxant effect was abolished by endothelial denudation, NO-synthase blockade with L-NAME and partial depolarization with KCl or L-NAME plus KCl. Incubation with the reacti...

The mechanisms of the beta-adrenoceptor-mediated relaxation induced by dopamine in guinea pig taenia caecum were examined. The relaxant response to dopamine was unaffected by propranolol (10(-8)-10(-5) M) or phentolamine (10(-8)-10(-5) M). Atenolol (3 x 10(-7)-3 x 10(-4) M), butoxamine (10(-7)-10(-4) M), prazosin (10(-8)-10(-5) M), yohimbine (10(-8)-10(-5) M), SCH 23390 (10(-8)-10(-5) M) and ha...

Aortic smooth muscle isolated from spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and normotensive, age-matched Wistar Kyoto rats (WKY) was precontracted by potassium chloride. The relaxant effect of nifedipine (NIF) was much more pronounced in SHR than in WKY, while the relaxation produced by nitroglycerin (NTG) was similar in both tissues. EC50s were (in - log [M]) NIF:SHR 13.1 +/- 0.4 and WKY 9.4 +/-...

The structure-activity relationships between flavonoids and their tracheal relaxant action are little known. In the present study, 26 natural and synthetic flavonoids, divided into the five classes of flavones, flavonols, flavanones, isoflavones, and chalcones, were tested, and their IC (50) values were determined. The IC (50) values of these five classes indicated that flavones were more poten...