British Journal of Pharmacology 1970-05-01

The mechanism of the paralysing action of tetramisole on Ascaris somatic muscle.

J Aceves, D Erlij, R Martínez-Marañón

Index: Br. J. Pharmacol. 38 , 602-607, (1970)

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Abstract

1. Tetramisole (100 mug/ml) paralysed live Ascaris in 3 min.2. Tetramisole (10 mug/ml) caused a sustained contraction of the isolated somatic muscles of the worm. This contraction was not blocked by curare nor by piperazine.3. Tetramisole reduced the resting potential of Ascaris muscle from 34+/-4 to 10+/-1 mV.4. Tetramisole caused contraction of Ascaris muscle previously depolarized with high K(+) solutions. This observation suggests that tetramisole can induce a contracture that is independent of membrane depolarization.