[Influence of local anaesthetics on isolated muscle cells in culture (author's transl)].

A comparative study was performed on the influence of a series of chemically defined local anaesthetics such as procaine, nicotinoylprocaine and butacaine on isolated skeletal muscle cells and heart cells in culture. About 30 min after addition of local anaesthetics to cell cultures vesicles appear in the cells. These formations are reversible and need a minimum concentration of 13(-3) mol/l procaine, 10(-4) mol/l nicotinoylprocaine, or 10(-4) mol/l butacaine, respectively. Soon after addition of local anaesthetics a reduction of oxygen consumption is measurable in both cell types. The degree of this reduction depends on the chemical structure and the concentration of local anaesthetics and on the kind of cells. After daily addition of local anaesthetics to cell cultures metabolic parameters were studied. The local anaesthetics, except for butacaine, produce an increase of protein concentration, creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase activity per sample and an increase of the specific activity of lactate dehydrogenase. These increases depend also on the concentration of local anaesthetics and on the kind of cells. These results support the hypothesis of local anaesthetics action via membrane lipids.