Relaxation, drug uses

A further enzyme of practical interest is cholinesterase. Cholinesterase, normally involved in the prtx ess of neuromuscular conduction, incidentally hydrolyses succinylcholine, a muscle-relaxing drug used in anaesthesia. Patients with abnormal cholinesterase may fail to hydrolyze the drug normally and as a result suffer prolonged paralysis after anaesthesia. This is called scoline apnoea. Cholinesterase measurements are afso useful in thediagnosisof poisoning with pesticides which are cholinesterase inhibitors. 

The Division of Drug Experience of the US Department of Health and Welfare issued a note on five cases of the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion and drugs to which it has been attributed (1137). All involved drugs with a tricyclic structure one patient was taking imipramine, three carbamazepine, and the others the closely related muscle relaxant cyclobenz-aprine. The dosage of imipramine was 50 mg/day for 3 weeks and the patient was a 72-year-old woman. Other cases have been reported, involving amitriptyline (1137), imipramine, and protriptyline (SEDA-17,17). 

Laboratory experiments also show us that the dose of a drug is a crucial variable. High doses of a substance may produce very different effects from low doses. Moderate doses of alcohol will give many people feelings of well-being and relaxation high doses may cause incoordination, confusion, and sickness. 

Studies were conducted on a model proprietary drug system (28). First, the DSC response of the model drug shows an endothermic peak at 155°C. Complementary studies (x-ray powder diffraction, optical microscopy, and TGA) allow us to attribute this event to a solid-solid transition. By TSC, this drug exhibits a relaxation located at 108°C after polarization at Tp= 110°C. This is followed at about 130°C... 

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