Anaesthesia for nine patients with the carcinoid syndrome is described. With the exception of one case in which severe bronchospasm and hypertension occurred, complications were minor. Steroids, aprotonin and methotrimeprazine appear to be useful agents in the management of such patients. An anaesthetic technique employing thiopentone, pancuronium and nitrous oxide proved satisfactory.

Using a sensitive radioactive method that measures selectively the evoked release of acetylcholine, it was demonstrated that, when stimulating at 50 Hz, tubocurarine or pancuronium 2 X 10(-5) mol litre-1 or hexamethonium 10(-3) mol litre-1 significantly decreased the evoked release of acetylcholine in the mouse in vitro phrenic nerve-hemidiaphragm preparation.

Equilibrium conditions of neurotransmitter concentration and receptor binding are never achieved during synaptic transmission at the neuromuscular junction. Thus, it is important to determine the binding kinetics of drugs that act this synapse. Previous determinations of the dissociation rate of (+)-tubocurarine have produced inconsistent results ranging from 0.1 to 4000/s. Here, we used a dire...

Lymph flow into the thoracic duct of rats is reduced by 60% through immobilization with anesthesia. From this reduction, changes of the autonomic nervous activity by alpha-chloralose accounts for 20%. Pancuronium bromide blocking of the skeletal neuromuscular junction reduces lymph flow in the anesthetized rats by an additional 4%.