• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.43-52
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• 1988

To elucidate the mechanism of action of local anesthetics, the effects of local anethetics on the microenvironment of the lipid bilayers of synaptosomal plasma membrane vesicles (SPMV) isolated from bovine brain and dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) multilamellar liposomes were investigated employing the intermolecular excimer fluorescence technique and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The relative intensities of excimer and monomer fluorescence of pyrene are a simple linear function of the viscosity of a homologous series of solvents. The microviscosity(${\eta}$)of the hydrocarbon region of SPMV was measured by this method and the value was $57.3{\pm}5.3\;cP$ at $37^{\circ}C$. In the presence of lidocaine-HCl and procaine-HCl, the values decreased to $46.5{\pm}5.1\;cP$ and $54.7{\pm}4.8\;cP$, respectvely. The differential scanning thermograms of DMPC multilamellar liposomes showed that local anesthetics significantly lowered the phase transition temperature, broadened the thermogram peaks, and reduced the size of the cooperative unit. These results indicate that local anesthetics have significant fluidizing effects on biomembranes and perturbation of membrane lipids may produce some, but not all, of their pharmacological actions.