Neuromuscular blocking agents do not alter local anesthetic seizure thresholds

Abstract

The brain's convulsant threshold is not affected by choice of paralyzing agent. One group of 10 anesthetized and ventilated cats was paralyzed with gallamine, another group with metocurine. Bupivacaine (a potent local anesthetic agent) was infused at a rate of 1 mg/kg/min until the onset of electrical seizure discharges. The convulsant dose of bupivacaine was 4.6 ± 0.6 mg/kg after gallamine and 4.8 ± 1.0 mg/kg after metocurine. The two values did not differ significantly; neither did bupivacaine plasma concentrations during florid electrical convulsions.