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Although maintaining anesthesia for myasthenia gravis (MG) with minimal muscle relaxants (MR) is common, the success rate of anesthetic management for MG without MR is not clear. We therefore retrospectively examined the success rate of anesthetic management for MG without MR among 66 consecutive cases of thymectomy for MG performed at our hospital between January 2004 and April 2010, before approval of using sugammadex. A total of 60 patients (90.9 %) were treated without MR (N group). Among the 60 cases, 17 (28.3 %) patients were not extubated in the operating room due to postoperative respiratory depression or other reasons. Therefore, the success rate of anesthetic management for thymectomy in patients with MG without treating MR was 71.7 % (43/60) [95 % confident interval (CI): 65.9-77.5 %]. The reasons for using MR included coughing at intubation in one case, bucking during surgery in two cases, and MR was considered to be safer by the attending anesthesiologist in three cases. The number of cases of impossible extubation requiring ventilation on that day was three in the N group and none in the R group. Finally, the success rate of anesthetic management for MG without MR was estimated to be 71.1 % (95 % CI: 65.9-77.5 %)., Author(s): Yoshihito Fujita[sup.1] , Satoru Moriyama[sup.2] , Satoshi Aoki[sup.3] , Saya Yoshizawa[sup.3] , Maiko Tomita[sup.3] , Taiki Kojima[sup.3] , Yukiko Mori[sup.3] , Naoko Takeuchi[sup.3] , Min-Hye So[sup.3] , Motoki Yano[sup.2] [...]

ABSTRACT Tetra-acetylajugasterone C (TAAC) was found to be one of the naturally occurring compounds of the Cameroonian medicinal plant Vitex cienkowskii which is responsible for a vasorelaxant activity of an [...]

Excitation of the muscularis mucosae is believed to increase gastric acid secretion. This theory was tested by the in vitro characterization of muscularis mucosae responses to substances that moderate acid release. Results show that the muscularis mucosae in the rabbit gastric corpus contracted when treated with ACh, ADP, ATP and histamine and relaxed to vasoactive intestinal polypeptide. The theory was also tested by observing the response to intrinsic nerve stimulation. Results showed that electric field stimulation led to TTX-sensitive responses.

Research shows that airway relaxation via a functional, nonepithelial-dependent sodium-potassium-2Cl cotransporter occurs in newborn guinea pig trachea in the presence of furosemide. Experimental evidence using rubidium-86 in standard or varying low chloride concentration N-2-hydroxyethylpiperazine-N'-2-ethanesulfonic acid suggests that the sodium-potassium-2Cl cotransporter is an important factor in furosemide-induced airway relaxation.

Sodium nitroprusside (SMP) and S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine (SNAP) both relax phenylephrine-induced contractions in microvessels obtained from the rat mesentery. However, they are less effective in relaxing contractions induced by 40 mM KCl. It appears that SNP stimulates K+ efflux by opening K+ channels via the guanosine 3'-5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP)-dependent protein kinase (PKG)-mediated phosphorylation. The vasodilatory effect of nitric oxide (NO) on microvessels is boosted by stimulation of high-conductance Ca2+- and voltage-activated K+ (BKca)-channel activity via cGMP-dependent phosphorylation.

A winner of the 1996 Lasker awards describes his research on nitric oxide and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (GMP). He studied cyclic GMP as a second messenger, which is a chemical whose synthesis is stimulated by a hormone. Focusing on the enzyme that produces cyclic GMP, he found that many nitrogen compounds could activate the enzyme. The most likely component that could account for this was nitric oxide. Nitric oxide has been shown to be involved in many processes, including smooth muscle relaxation, platelet aggregation and neurotransmission.

An allometric study of the effect of body size on the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of the muscle relaxant metocurine reveals that pharmacodynamics is partially dependent on size, while pharmarcokinetics varies with physiological time and size. Individual species data exhibit a bimodal distribution, suggesting a relevance for the receptor density within the endplate. The effect compartment IC(50) in pig, rat and sheep locomotor muscles is equivalent and related to the body size.

Separate gastric and Taenia coli smooth muscle cells show relaxation along with enhanced levels of cAMP and cGMP, or both the protein kinases control the relaxation process. cGK and cAK favor activation by cGMP and cAMP respectively. cGK is activated by cAMP when it is at high concentrations due to its occurrence in larger quantities over cGMP. Activation of cAK and cGK is observed with increased levels of cAMP and cGMP, which influence the relaxation process additively.

Byline: M. Boskabady, S. Kiani, H. Azizi OBJECTIVE: To examine the relaxant effects of the macerated and aqueous extracts of Cuminum cyminum on the tracheal chains of guinea pig. MATERIALS [...]

Byline: Ranendra. Roy, N. Ray, A. Das OBJECTIVE: To study the skeletal muscle relaxant property of Chonemorpha macrophylla (CM). MATERIALS AND METHOD: The skeletal muscle relaxant effect of the alcoholic [...]