Azemiopsin (Az), a linear peptide from the Azemiops feae viper venom, contains no disulfide bonds, is a high-affinity and selective inhibitor of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) of muscle type and may be considered as potentially applicable nondepolarizing muscle relaxant. In this study, we investigated its preclinical profile in regard to in vitro and in vivo efficacy, acute and chroni...

UNLABELLED The treatment of dystonia related to complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) remains unsatisfactory, raising the need of alternative targets for intervention. In dystonia, pathologic muscle changes may occur, which contributes to stiffness. Because magnesium sulphate may act as a muscle relaxant through its actions on the neuromuscular junction and muscle, we performed an explanatory s...

Sapindus trifoliate is a medium-sized deciduous tree growing wild in south India that belongs to the family Sapindaceae. The pericarp is reported for various medicinal properties. A thick aqueous solution of the pericarp is used for the treatment of hemi crania, hysteria or epilepsy in folklore medicine. As antiepileptic action is due to muscle relaxation we thought of investigating the muscle ...

Nigella sativa (N. sativa) is a spice plant which has been traditionally used for culinary and medicinal purposes. Different therapeutic properties including the beneficial effects on asthma and dyspnea, digestive and gynecology disorders have been described for the seeds of N. sativa. There is evidence of the relaxant effects of this plant and some of its constituents on different types of smo...

The pharmacology of prostanoid-induced relaxation of the precontracted cat ciliary smooth muscle was characterized using synthetic prostaglandin (PG) analogues that are selective for specific prostanoid receptors. Relaxation was studied using carbachol to precontract the isolated longitudinal ciliary muscle, followed by application of the PG agonist. Of the compounds studied, PGE2 was the most ...

The possible functional coupling between beta1-adrenoceptor and MaxiK channels which results in smooth muscle relaxation was examined in the guinea-pig esophageal muscularis mucosae. Isoprenaline-elicited relaxation of esophageal smooth muscle was confirmed to be mediated through beta1-adrenoceptors as the response was competitively antagonized by a beta1-selective antagonist atenolol with a pA...

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...

This paper describes the synthesis of 1,4-dihydropyridine compounds (DHPs) endowed with good muscle relaxant activity and stability to light. Six new condensed DHPs were synthesized by the microwave irradiation method. A long-chain ester moiety [2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl] and various substituents on the phenyl ring were demonstrated to affect the muscle relaxant activity occurring in isolated ra...

Background: N-acetylcysteine (NAC) has been indicated against experimental seizures, but with relatively inconclusive results. This study was undertaken to evaluate whether NAC exerts a dose-dependent anticonvulsant effect and to determine NAC safe therapeutic dose range and its muscle-relaxant activity in both acute and chronic uses.Methods: Following intraperitoneal (i.p.) administration of N...