Abstract
IN 1962 it was reported that pronethalol (I) (formerly ‘Nethalide’), a derivative of isoprenaline in which the catechol ring is replaced by naphthalene, was able to antagonize the (β-responses to sympathetic stimulation or sympathomimetic drugs1. It was afterwards shown2 that pronethalol approximately doubled the lethal dose of ouabain, completely prevented the onset of ventricular fibrillation during intoxication by cardiac glycosides, and restored a regular rhythm to guinea pig hearts which had already been made to fibrillate by an overdose of ouabain. Experiments on isolated rabbit atria3, from which action potentials were recorded with intracellular micro-electrodes, indicated that pronethalol was an anti-arrhythmic agent approximately twice as potent as quinidine, and with a similar mode of action. Since many anti-arrhythmic agents are also local anaesthetics, it was of interest to discover whether pronethalol also could produce local anæsthesia.
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References
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GILL, E., VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, E. Local Anæsthetic Activity of the β-Receptor Antagonist, Pronethalol. Nature 201, 199 (1964). https://doi.org/10.1038/201199a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/201199a0
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