Enhancement of local anaesthesia action by organic acid salts. (I): Possible change of excitability in nerve fibre membrane.

Measurements of action potentials recorded from giant nerve fibres of the crayfish abdomen showed that by addition of an organic acid salt to a local anaesthetic solution, the onset of anaesthetic action became more rapid and the duration of action was prolonged. Similar results were also obtained in rat vagal nerves. The chemical structure of compounds having these enhancing effects was found to have, in common, a carboxyl group connected with either a benzene ring or an aliphatic hydrocarbon. Topical application of anaesthetic solutions to the skin of flexor side of the forearm in humans revealed that the duration of anaesthesia evaluated by the apparent decrease of the number of pain points was significantly prolonged by the addition of salicylate. The use of local anaesthetics combined with organic acid salts would be promising in clinical practice to enhance their action greatly.