Enantioseparation of chiral thiobarbiturates using cyclodextrin-modified capillary electrophoresis.

Schmitt U, Bojarski J, Holzgrabe U.

Institute of Pharmacy and Food Chemistry, University of Wurzburg, Germany.

The racemates of several chiral thiobarbiturates were separated by using different cyclodextrins in capillary electrophoresis (CE). Six neutral and negatively charged cyclodextrins 1 (CDs) were employed as chiral separators whereof five led to successful separation of enantiomeric thiobarbiturate pairs. The CDs used were the native alpha-CD, beta-CD, gamma-CD, and heptakis-(2,6-di-O-methyl)-beta-cyclodextrin (HDM) as well as heptakis-(2,3-di-O-methyl-6-sulfato)-beta-cyclodextrin (HDMS) and heptakis-(2,3-di-O-acetyl-6-sulfato)-beta-CD (HDAS). Five of the six chiral thiobarbiturates studied could be resolved at a basic pH value of 9.4 and a phosphate buffer concentration of 100 mM in a fused-silica capillary. Structurally related substances showed a similar behavior in separation: 1 and 2 bearing the center of chirality in the side chain at C5 can be best separated using gamma-CD, the N-alkyl-substituted compounds 3 and 4 as well as the N/S-dialkyl-substituted compound 5 could be resolved with HDM. Using the neutral CDs, the migration times were relatively small (< 11 min). 3 and 4 could be also resolved by means of the negatively charged HDMS. In the latter case, the migration time is twice as long as with HDM.

Source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11589285&dopt=Abstract barbiturate Butalbital Fioricet





[Effects of general anesthetics on neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and their roles in the mechanism of anesthesia]

[Article in Japanese]

Andoh T.

Department of Anesthesiology, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, Yokohama 236-0004.

Neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAchRs) are widely expressed in the central and autonomic nervous systems and have subunit compositions with biophysical and pharmacological properties distinct from those of the receptors at the neuromuscular junction. They are thought to modulate synaptic transmission in the central nervous system (CNS) mainly by regulating the release of neurotransmitters. Although roles of neuronal nAchRs in the CNS are poorly understood, these receptors are involved in cognitive performance, nociception and psychoneurological disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson disease. It is known that both central and peripheral neuronal nAchRs are sensitive to various types of anesthetics. Among those, barbiturates, ketamine, volatile and gaseous anesthetics depress neuronal nAchRs at or below clinical concentrations. Inhibition of neuronal nAchRs by barbiturates is unlikely to contribute to the anesthetic action of barbiturates, since this effect does not correlate with the anesthetic potencies of barbiturate stereoisomers. Relevance of inhibition of these receptors is controversial for anesthetic effects of other anesthetics, because conflicting results have been obtained from comparison of this effect with anesthetic actions of stereoisomers or structurally related compounds. However, it is possible that inhibition of central nAchRs contributes to secondary effects attributed to anesthesia such as impairment in memory and cognitive performance.

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The negative GABA(A) modulator methyl beta-carboline-3-carboxylate attenuates the behavioral effects of the positive GABA(A) modulators triazolam and pregnanolone in rhesus monkeys.

McMahon LR, France CP.

Department of Pharmacology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, 7703 Floyd Curl Dr., San Antonio, TX 78229-3900, USA.

RATIONALE: Many of the effects of benzodiazepines (BZs), barbiturates, and neuroactive steroids are mediated by the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)(A) receptor complex. OBJECTIVES: This study tested the hypothesis that negative GABA(A) modulators attenuate the behavioral effects of different positive GABA(A) modulators that vary in their site of action on the receptor complex. METHODS: Rhesus monkeys responding under a multiple fixed ratio (FR:FR) schedule of food presentation and stimulus-shock termination received GABA(A) modulators under cumulative dosing procedures. RESULTS: The BZ site negative GABA(A) modulator methyl beta-carboline-3-carboxylate (beta-CCM), and not the BZ site neutral modulator flumazenil, decreased FR responding under the multiple schedule. FR responding was also decreased by positive modulators, including the BZ triazolam, the neuroactive steroid pregnanolone, and the barbiturate pentobarbital in that order of potency. beta-CCM, and not flumazenil, antagonized pregnanolone, suggesting that pregnanolone increased GABA-mediated chloride flux at a non-BZ site. beta-CCM antagonized triazolam with the slope of the Schild plot for beta-CCM and triazolam (food component) conforming to unity and yielding a pA2 value of 6.44. The effects of pentobarbital were not altered by beta-CCM, suggesting that barbiturates might act at a population of GABA(A) receptors different from those where neuroactive steroids and BZs act, or that barbiturate site positive GABA(A) modulators are not amenable to modulation by negative modulators. CONCLUSIONS: These results confirm a competitive interaction between beta-CCM and triazolam, and further demonstrate that the effects of neuroactive steroids on FR responding are attenuated by a BZ site negative GABA(A) modulator. Negative GABA(A) modulators might prove especially useful for characterizing important differences among positive GABA(A) modulators that act through different sites on the receptor complex.

Source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11713619&dopt=Abstract barbiturate Butalbital Fioricet





[Prolonged clinical pattern of brain death in patients under barbiturate sedation: usefulness of transcranial Doppler]

[Article in Spanish]

Segura T, Jimenez P, Jerez P, Garcia F, Corcoles V.

Seccion de Neurologia, Hospital General de Albacete, Spain. tseguram meditex.es

Introduction: Throughout the world, is fully accepted that a person is dead when brain death exists. In most situations, neurological criteria permit the diagnosis of brain death, but in some instances, as when high-dose barbiturate therapy has been used, confirmatory testing are required by law.Clinical case: We report the case of a 17 year-old women who suffered high-dose barbiturate therapy due to post traumatic intracranial hypertension. During the period of the barbiturate infusion and until six days after the suppression of this therapy, neurological exploration and EEG findings seem to confirm brain death, while transcranial Doppler (TCD) study remained normal.Conclusions: TCD is a fast, simple and accurate confirmatory testing in the determination of brain death and its findings are not affected by high-dose barbiturate therapy. We think that TCD must be present in all hospitals where mechanical ventilation and support of patients are carried out.

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