Hexamethonium nicotinic receptor antagonist

Drugs that block the nicotinic receptors on autonomic ganglia, such as hexamethonium, probably do so by actually blocking the Na+ ion channel rather than the receptor. Generally these receptors appear to resemble the central ones more than those at the neuromuscular junction and dihydro-jS-erythroidine is one drug that it is an effective antagonist in both ganglia and the CNS. 

An abstinence syndrome can be promptly precipitated in nicotine-infused rats by blocking nicotinic receptors with the competitive antagonist DHpE (Epping-Jordan et al. 1998 Malin et al. 1998a), or by inactivating them with noncompetitive antagonists mecamylamine (Malin et al. 1994), hexamethonium (Malin et al. 1997), or chlorisondamine (Hildebrand et al. 1997). 

Nicotine increased DA levels both in vivo11,193 and in vitro. 94 196 Nicotine197 and its metabolites198 were found to both release and inhibit the reuptake of DA in rat brain slices, with uptake inhibition occurring at a lower concentration than that required for DA release. In addition, the (-) isomer was more potent than the (+) isomer.197 However, the effects of nicotine upon DA release and uptake were only apparent when brain slices were utilized because nicotine was unable to affect DA when a synaptosomal preparation was utilized.197 These results indicate that nicotine exerts its effects upon the DAT indirectly, most likely via nicotine acetylcholine receptors. This finding was supported by the results of Yamashita et al.199 in which the effect of nicotine on DA uptake was examined in PC 12 and COS cells transfected with rat DAT cDNA. Nicotine inhibited DA uptake in PC 12 cells that possess a nicotine acetylcholine receptor. This effect was blocked by the nicotinic antagonists hexamethonium and mecamylamine. Additionally, nicotine did not influence DA uptake in COS cells, which lack nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. 

---