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Science 20 December 1968:
Vol. 162. no. 3860, pp. 1394 - 1395
DOI: 10.1126/science.162.3860.1394
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Articles

Local Anesthetics: Effect of pH on Activity

J. M. Ritcme 1 and Brenda R. Ritchie 2

1 Department of Pharmacology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06510
2 Department of Biology, Marymount College, Tarrytown, New York

Lidocaine and dibucaine are more effective in neutral than in alkaline solution when tested on the nonmyelinated fibers of the desheathed vagus nerve of the rabbit. Procaine, however, is more effective in alkaline solution. The activity of benzocaine is unaffected by pH. Both the charged and uncharged forms of local anesthetics thus seem capable of blocking conduction.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Current Concepts of the Mechanism of Action of Local Anesthetics.
G. R. Strichartz (1981)
Journal of Dental Research 60, 1460-1467
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Local anesthetics: significance of hydrogen bonding in mechanism of action..
M. Sax and J. Pletcher (1969)
Science 166, 1546-1548
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