In summary, it appears from this and other studies that trimetaphan has the potential for producing neuromuscular blockade when used in large doses or when combined with other muscle relaxants. The mode of action appears to be principally that of non-depolarizing neuromuscular blockade. Sodium nitroprusside, on the other hand, even in doses beyond these accepted clinically, does not affect neur...

the structure was established by King in 1935, however, one of the nitrogen groups was later found to be tertiary a synthetic analogue, metocurine, was developed several years later with 3x the potency of dTC gallamine, another of the series, was synthesised about 1950 NB: in 1954 Beecher & Todd published their multi-institutional report which showed a 6-fold increase in mortality with the use ...

P/Q Ca2+ channels are genetically abnormal in most cases of familial hemiplegic migraine (FHM) and may be involved in other types of migraine. They are also found at the neuromuscular junctions, where they control stimulation-induced acetylcholine release. Prolonged aura is a very frequent clinical feature in FHM patients. The objective of this study was thus to explore neuromuscular transmissi...

THE PARAMETERS OF SINGLE FIBRE EMG To detect abnormal neuromuscular transmission, two parameters are analysed: ‘jitter’ as an indicator of irregularity of neuromuscular transmission, and ‘blocking’ as an indicator of failure of transmission (Stålberg and Trontelj 1994). Each lower motor neurone arising from an anterior horn of the spinal cord connects with a number of muscle fi bres via the ter...

THE PARAMETERS OF SINGLE FIBRE EMG To detect abnormal neuromuscular transmission, two parameters are analysed: ‘jitter’ as an indicator of irregularity of neuromuscular transmission, and ‘blocking’ as an indicator of failure of transmission (Stålberg and Trontelj 1994). Each lower motor neurone arising from an anterior horn of the spinal cord connects with a number of muscle fi bres via the ter...

objective botulism is the acute, descending, flaccid paralysis that results when the neurotoxin of clostridium botulinum blocks neuromuscular transmission. c botulinum toxin is the most poisonous substance that blocks neuromuscular transmission and causes death through airway and respiratory muscle paralysis; all forms of botulism manifest neurologically as asymmetric, descending, flaccid paral...

At larval zebrafish neuromuscular junctions (NMJs), miniature end plate currents (mEPCs) recorded in vivo have an unusually fast time course. We used fast-flow application of acetylcholine (ACh) onto outside-out patches to mimic the effect of synaptic release onto small numbers of ACh receptor channels (AChRs). Positively charged ACh acted at hyperpolarized potentials and at millimolar concentr...

We have examined the rapid development of synaptic transmission at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) in zebrafish embryos and larvae by patch-clamp recording of spontaneous miniature endplate currents (mEPCs) and single acetylcholine receptor (AChR) channels. Embryonic (24-36 h) mEPCs recorded in vivo were small in amplitude (<50 pA). The rate of mEPCs increased in larvae (3.5-fold increase meas...