Anesthesiology
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Comparative Study
Comparison of histamine release in human skin mast cells induced by morphine, fentanyl, and oxymorphone.
Human leukocyte and skin mast cell preparations were incubated with morphine sulfate in concentrations ranging from 1.5 X 10(-5) M to 4.5 X 10(-3) M. Skin mast cells also were incubated with oxymorphone and fentanyl in the same concentrations. Human leukocytes did not release histamine in response to any concentration of morphine. ⋯ The release of histamine by morphine but not equimolar concentrations of fentanyl and oxymorphone indicates that histamine release by narcotics is not a nonspecific effect of high drug concentration. The failure of naloxone to inhibit morphine-induced histamine release suggests that histamine release by morphine is not dependent on opiate receptor binding or activation. These results indicate that this human mast cell preparation will be useful in further understanding the mechanism of histamine release induced by morphine and other agents.
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The authors demonstrated that soda lime will adsorb enflurane or isoflurane as a function of the water content of the soda lime. Various volumes of liquid enflurane or isoflurane were placed in an equilibration flask containing fresh (15% water by weight) or dried soda lime and the vapor phase anesthetic concentrations plotted. ⋯ This is qualitatively similar to data reported previously for halothane. The authors hypothesize that drying soda lime produces a molecular sieve-like structure, as adsorption is greatest for molecules with small carbon chain lengths and kinetic diameters, or with structural characteristics such as cis/trans isomerism, which effectively reduce molecular size.