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Two chemically similar nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, orpanoxin and F-1067, had almost identical potencies and efficacies as anti-inflammatory (rat paw edema) and analgesic (mouse writhing) agents, but differed markedly in gastrotoxicity. Orpanoxin alone aggravated stomach lesions in rats subjected to pylorus ligation and failed to protect stomachs of rats challenged with indomethacin. The compounds did not differ in their in vitro enzyme inhibition effects, both failing to inhibit 5- and 15-lipoxygenase and both inhibiting prostaglandin synthetase. Extraction of prostagiandins from the gastric mucosa of pylorus-ligated rats revealed, however, that the safer F-1067 depleted prostaglandin 6-keto-F1α less and increased prostaglandin E2 much more than did orpanoxin. A possible causality is suggested.

Nolinium bromide inhibits gastric acid secretion and gastrointestinal smooth muscle contraction. While the compound's gastric antisecretory action has been attributed in part to inhibition of gastric adenylate cyclase and the gastric proton-transport ATPase, the mechanism of nolinium bromide's relaxant effect on smooth muscle has not been elucidated. We have determined that nolinium bromide inhibits contraction of vascular smooth muscle, using isolated rabbit aortic strips. This report characterizes the specificity of this inhibition (by using several agonists) and its Ca2+ dependence (by using contractile conditions of known dependence on various Ca2+ pools). Nolinium bromide (50-200 microM) was a reversible, insurmountable inhibitor of contractions induced by Ca2+ (in 40 mM KC1 depolarizing medium) and norepinephrine, with IC50 values of 96 and 118 microM, respectively, for suppression of maximum contractile force. Contractions in response to Asn1Val5-angiotensin II in both 2.5 mM Ca2+ and 0 mM Ca2+ medium were also inhibited (IC50 value = 110 microM under both conditions). Initial contraction rates for all these conditions were depressed by nolinium bromide. Nolinium bromide inhibited equally the phasic (internal Ca2+-dependent) and tonic (external Ca2+-dependent) components of norepinephrine-induced contractions. These results extend the muscle relaxant profile of nolinium bromide to include, albeit with low potency, vascular smooth muscle, and show that its potency is similar in inhibiting the contractile response to three different stimuli: angiotensin II, Ca2+, and norepinephrine.

To determine specificity of rodent models of arrhythmia for different Vaughan Williams classes of antiarrhythmic drugs, we tested 17 drugs from the four classes in one in vitro and four in vivo models. In the mouse chloroform-induced ventricular fibrillation model and in the guinea pig ouabain-induced arrhythmia model, drugs of classes I (amefalone, aprindine, lidocaine, mexiletine, phenytoin, procainamide, or quinidine), II (metoprolol or propranolol), and IV (bepridil) were active. Class III drugs (bretylium, clofilium, or melperone did not suppress ouabain arrhythmias, but were active in the mouse chloroform model. In the rat coronary artery ligation model, disopyramide (class I), amefalone and melperone significantly (P less than 0.05) reduced the number of extrasystoles. Propranolol, sotalol, and verapamil (class IV) were less effective. In the rat coronary artery ligation/reperfusion model, all four classes of antiarrhythmic agents were active in vitro (isolated heart) and in vivo (anesthetized rat). Thus, one model of automaticity, the guinea pig ouabain model, detected class I, II, and IV drugs, whereas another automaticity model, the mouse chloroform model, also detected class III agents. The model of reentry induced by ischemia plus reperfusion (rat coronary artery ligation reperfusion) can be recommended as a screen for new antiarrhythmic agents based on its sensitivity to all four classes of antiarrhythmic drugs. The Vaughan Williams class of an antiarrhythmic agent must be determined, however, by additional mechanism studies.

Improved methods for the measurement of spectral line intensities have been developed. Such techniques are based on the authors' modification of the partial Seidel function, referred to as B-functions. A conversion table for these is given. A scale calibrated in B-functions has been incorporated into a Hilger microphotometer enabling such values to be obtained directly without the use of conversion tables. B-values can be plotted directly on to the linear co-ordinate of semilog graph paper if the self-calibration method is used for evaluating line intensities, there is an attendant time saving and improvement in the accuracy of background extrapolation. A nomographic technique developed for use in conjunction with this scale, results in a rapid evaluation of line intensities but with some loss of precision. It is concluded that the technique will result in an improvement of some existing photometric methods.