Comparison of the effect of ethylene and hexene-1 co-monomers on the composition, microstructure, rheology, thermal and mechanical behaviour of randomized polypropylene hetero-phasic block co-polymers

Ethylene and hexene-1 co-monomers were applied to isotactic polypropylene reactor alloys to compare the effect of the co-monomer type on their interfacial interaction and impact strength.

pH dependence of kinetics and steady-state block of cardiac sodium channels by lidocaine

The local anesthetic-class antiarrhythmic drugs produce greater depression of conduction in ischemic compared with normal myocardium. The basis for this relatively selective action is uncertain. A model of the pH-dependent interaction of tertiary amine drugs with the sodium channel suggests that the low pH occurring during ischemia slows drug dissociation from the channel by changing the drug's protonation. The importance of the proton exchange reaction and the effect of overall slowing of drug dissociation on steady-state sodium channel blockade is uncertain. We have measured whole cell sodium channel current in rabbit atrial myocytes during control and exposure to lidocaine while external pH was varied between 6.8 and 7.8 at membrane potentials of -140, -120, and -100 mV. Tonic blockade was little influenced by external pH. Decreasing the external pH from 7.8 to 6.8 slowed both the rate of development of phasic block and recovery from the block. Decreasing the membrane potential from -140 to -100 mV increased the degree of phasic block attained in the steady state. Block was further enhanced when low pH was combined with membrane depolarization. Experiments in which deuterium ions were substituted for protons suggest that the kinetics of proton exchange is not rate limiting in the dissociation of drugs from the sodium channel. We conclude that it is the combined effect of low pH and membrane depolarization that may be critical in the enhanced blocking action of local anesthetic-class drugs during ischemia.

Tonic and phasic block of neuronal sodium currents by 5-hydroxyhexano-2',6'-xylide, a neutral lidocaine homologue.

The effects of a neutral lidocaine homologue, 5-hydroxyhexano-2',6'-xylidide (5-HHX), on the kinetics and amplitude of sodium currents in voltage-clamped amphibian nerve fibers are described. 5-HHX produced two types of sodium current inhibition: (a) tonic block, in resting fibers (IC50 approximately 2 mM), and (b) phasic block, an additional, incremental inhibition, in repetitively depolarized fibers (frequency greater than 1 Hz). The kinetics of phasic block were characterized by a single-receptor, switched-affinity model, in which binding increases during a depolarizing pulse and decreases between pulses. In the presence of 4 mM 5-HHX, binding increased during pulses from -80 to 0 mV, with an apparent rate constant of 6.4 +/- 1.4 s-1. Binding decreased between pulses with an apparent rate constant of 1.1 +/- 0.3 s-1. There was little effect of extracellular pH on the kinetics of phasic block. These findings demonstrate that neither the presence of a terminal amine nor a net charge on a local anesthetic is required for phasic block of sodium channels.

Inhibition of sodium currents by local anesthetics in chloramine-T-treated squid axons. The role of channel activation.

In order to test the requirement of Na channel inactivation for the action of local anesthetics, we investigated the inhibitory effects of quaternary and tertiary amine anesthetics on normally inactivating and noninactivating Na currents in squid axons under voltage clamp. Either the enzymatic mixture pronase, or chloramine-T (CT), a noncleaving, oxidizing reagent, was used to abolish Na channel inactivation. We found that both the local anesthetics QX-314 and etidocaine, when perfused internally at 1 mM, elicited a "tonic" (resting) block of Na currents, a "time-dependent" block that increased during single depolarizations, and a "use-dependent" (phasic) block that accumulated as a result of repetitive depolarizations. All three effects occurred in both control and CT-treated axons. As in previous reports, little time-dependent or phasic block by QX-314 appeared in pronase-treated axons, although tonic block remained. Time-dependent block was greatest and fastest at large depolarizations (Em greater than +60 mV) for both the control and CT-treated axons. The recovery kinetics from phasic block were the same in control and CT-modified axons. The voltage dependence of the steady state phasic block in CT-treated axons differed from that in the controls; an 8-10% reduction of the maximum phasic block and a steepening and shift of the voltage dependence in the hyperpolarizing direction resulted from CT treatment. The results show that these anesthetics can bind rapidly to open Na channels in a voltage-dependent manner, with no requirement for fast inactivation. We propose that the rapid phasic blocking reactions in nerve are consequences primarily of channel activation, mediated by binding of anesthetics to open channels, and that the voltage dependence of phasic block arises directly from that of channel activation.