Brain microdialysis was used to study the in vivo release and metabolism of dopamine (DA) in the rat striatum during halothane anaesthesia. Concentrations were measured in microdialysates collected every 20 min and applied directly to an on-line high-performance liquid chromatograph. Halothane was administered at concentrations of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0%. In another series of experiments, rats w...

The present study examines the effects of maternally administered halothane on fetal brain metabolism as determined by direct tissue analysis. Term pregnant rats were paralyzed, ventilated, and administered halothane in concentrations of 0.4, 1, or 2%. For comparison of fetal response to anesthetic agents, other maternal rats were administered pentobarbital (50 or 200 mg/kg). Dams receiving 0.4...

A relatively small number of inhibitory interneurons can control the excitability and synchronization of large numbers of pyramidal neurons in hippocampus and other cortical regions. Thus, anesthetic modulation of interneurons could play an important role during anesthesia. The aim of this study was to investigate effects of a general anesthetic, halothane, on membrane and synaptic properties o...

PURPOSE This study examined the direct myocardial depressant effect of halothane and determined whether an L-type Ca2+ channel agonist and antagonists altered the myocardial depression induced by halothane in cultured rat ventricular myocytes. METHODS Ventricular myocytes were obtained from neonatal rats by enzymatic digestion with collagenase and then cultured for 6 to 7 days. The myocytes w...

PURPOSE Halothane offers protection against the reperfusion injury of the myocardium. This study compared sevoflurane with halothane in its potential to modulate the effects of acute severe ischemia and reperfusion on the myocardium. METHODS Experiments were conducted on 25 pigs. Anesthesia consisted of thiopental, vecuronium and fentanyl. The lungs were mechanically ventilated with oxygen an...

BACKGROUND Halothane inhibits the 4-aminopyridine-sensitive transient outward K(+) current (I(to)) which in many species, including humans, plays an important role in determining action potential duration. As I(to) is greater in the ventricular subepicardium than subendocardium, halothane may have differential effects on action potential duration and, therefore, contraction in cells isolated fr...

Several studies suggest that anesthetics modulate the immune response. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of halothane and thiopental on the lung inflammatory response. Rats submitted or not to intratracheal (IT) instillation of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) were anesthetized with either halothane (0. 5, 1, or 1.5%) or thiopental (60 mg. kg(-1)) and mechanically ventilated for 4 h....

We have investigated the effect of 4.7 and 8.8% MAC of cyclopropane, and 5.3 and 9.3% MAC of halothane on the peak velocity of saccadic eye movements (PSV) in six healthy volunteers. Both concentrations of cyclopropane and halothane significantly depressed PSV (P less than 0.01) compared with air, in a dose-related fashion. Halothane depressed PSV significantly more than cyclopropane (P less th...

A dose-related inhibition by halothane of adenosine diphosphate-induced platelet aggregation was measured for human platelets in plasma anticoagulated with sodium citrate 6.8 mmol litre-1 or 13.6 mmol litre-1, or heparin 2 u. ml-1 and for platelets separated from plasma by albumin density gradient centrifugation and requiring no anticoagulant. By maintaining exposure and assay temperature at 37...

The effect on the minimiim alveolar concentration of halothane (MAC) during extretne hypocapnia with oxygen, and with air, was determined in nine dogs. MAC was unaffected by hypocapnia with halothane-oxygen. Changing halothane-oxygen to halothane-air reduced the MAC significantly in only five of nine dogs. The average decrease in this group of nine dogs was H per cent, only slightly more than t...