Anesthesiology
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Baseline acceleromyographic adductor pollicis train-of-four (TOF) ratio varies significantly between individuals and is often greater than unity. Thus, normalization of acceleromyography data is necessary. The relationship between normalized acceleromyographic TOF ratio, lung volumes, and clinical signs of residual neuromuscular block was studied. ⋯ Lung vital capacity decreased linearly with decreasing TOF ratio. Responses to clinical tests of muscle function varied to a large extent among individuals at comparable TOF ratios. None of the volunteers had significant clinical effects of neuromuscular block at normalized acceleromyographic TOF ratio greater than 0.90.
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Surgical injury induces production and release of inflammatory mediators in the vicinity of the wound. They in turn trigger nociceptive signaling to produce hyperalgesia and pain. Interleukin-1β plays a crucial role in this process. The mechanism regulating production of this cytokine after incision is, however, unknown. Caspase-1 is a key enzyme that cleaves prointerleukin-1β to its active form. We hypothesized that caspase-1 is a crucial regulator of incisional interleukin-1β levels, nociceptive sensitization, and inflammation. ⋯ The current study demonstrates that the inhibition of caspase-1 reduces postsurgical sensitization and inflammation, likely through a caspase-1/interleukin-1β-dependent mechanism.
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The activity of transient receptor potential vanilloid subtype-1 (TRPV1) receptors, key nociceptive transducers in dorsal root ganglion sensory neurons, is enhanced by protein kinase C epsilon (PKCepsilon) activation. The intravenous anesthetic propofol has been shown to activate PKCepsilon. Our objectives were to examine whether propofol modulates TRPV1 function in dorsal root ganglion neurons via activation of PKCepsilon. ⋯ Our results indicate that propofol modulates TRPV1 sensitivity to capsaicin and that this most likely occurs through a PKCepsilon-mediated phosphorylation of TRPV1.