The depressant action of procaine on the heart muscle has been the subject of several clinical and experimental studies (Wiggers and Wegria, 1940; Burstein, 1946; Uhley and Wilburne, 1948; Schaffer et al., 1950). Procaine was found useful in the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias occurring in anesthetized patients during cardiac surgery. However, its usefulness in the management of clinical arrhy...

The formation of a stable olfactory memory requires activity within several brain regions. The honeybee provides a valuable model to map complex olfactory learning tasks onto certain brain areas. To this end, we used injections of the local anaesthetic procaine to reversibly block spike activity in a specific brain region, the mushroom body (MB). We first investigated the physiological effects ...

Procaine has been advocated in the treatment of malignant hyperpyrexia, whereas lignocaine has been shown to worsen the condition. Using muscle from patients susceptible to malignant hyperpyrexia in vitro, it has been demonstrated that muscle contracture can occur with procaine on its own, and in one patient the halothane-induced contracture was potentiated by procaine. In other patients the co...

Effects of procaine on dibutyryl adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate ((Bu)2cAMP)-, Ca2(+)- or forskolin-induced steroidogenesis were examined in isolated bovine adrenocortical cells. Procaine (less than 1.0 mM) caused a marked suppression of (Bu)2cAMP- or forskolin-induced steroidogenesis in the absence of extracellular Ca2+, but did not affect on Ca2(+)-induced steroidogenesis in the cells. (...

The dose of procaine (in mg/kg/min) necessary to obtain a satisfactory light level of general anaesthesia in children from 18 to 168 months old, diminishes with increasing age. There is no difference in the procaine requirement between sexes. When higher doses of procaine are injected, greater amounts of gallamine are needed to maintain satisfactory relaxation. Young children require higher dos...

Elevated glucocorticoid levels are associated with many diseases, including age-related depression, hypertension, Alzheimer's disease, and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Cortisol-lowering agents could provide useful complementary therapy for these disorders. We examined the effect of procaine and procaine in a pharmaceutical formulation on adrenal cortical steroid formation. Procaine inhib...

1. Procaine (p-aminobenzoyl-diethylaminoethanol; synonym: novocaine), is a water-soluble local anaesthetic. Procaine is an amino ester. It is used in cattle, sheep, goats and horses for minor surgical procedures particularly dehorning by subcutaneous injection, and for local and regional anaesthesia by infiltration or nerve block. The common therapeutic doses ranged from 25 to 250 mg per animal...

The mechanism of the vasodilator effect of procaine amide in dogs was investigated in isolated gracilis muscle and hindpaw perfused at constant flows with arterial blood. Inhibition of sympathetic ganglionic transmission contributed predominantly to the vasodilatation in muscle that accompanied intravenous administration of procaine amide (20 mg/kg). In contrast, comparable amounts of procaine ...

The action of procaine on pharmaco-mechanical coupling activated by application of acetylcholine (ACh) was investigated using collagenase-treated dispersed intact and skinned smooth muscle cells and intact muscle tissues of the porcine coronary artery. ACh reduced stored 45Ca2+, and this action was prevented by procaine in intact dispersed cells. The maximum reduction in the level of stored 45C...