Abstract

Local anesthetics inhibited the sodium influx and the inositol phosphate accumulation elicited by the sodium channel activator batrachotoxin in guinea pig cortical synaptoneurosomes. Inhibitory effects of local anesthetics on sodium influx correlated with inhibitory effects on binding of a tritiated batrachotoxin analog to sodium channels in synaptoneurosomes. There was also a correlation between inhibitory effects on sodium influx and on inositol phosphate accumulation; most local anesthetics inhibited sodium influx at concentrations similar to those required for inhibition of inositol phosphate accumulation. Indeed, euprocin, bupivacaine, lidocaine, and certain analogs were nearly equipotent with respect to inhibition of sodium influx and inositol phosphate accumulation. Local anesthetics also inhibited inositol phosphate accumulation that was induced by carbamylcholine through both a tetrodotoxin-sensitive and tetrodotoxin-insensitive pathway. Certain local anesthetics, such as dibucaine, inhibited the tetrodotoxin-sensitive pathway with higher potency than for the tetrodotoxin-insensitive pathway, while others, such as quinacrine, inhibited tetrodotoxin-sensitive and tetrodotoxin-insensitive pathways with equal potency. Diphenhydramine and chlorpromazine appeared to inhibit carbamylcholine-elicited phosphoinositide breakdown through blockade of muscarinic cholinergic receptors rather than because of local anesthetic activity of inhibitory effects on phospholipase C.