Procaine hydrochloride

A local anesthetic of the ester type that has a slow onset and a short duration of action. It is mainly used for infiltration anesthesia, peripheral nerve block, and spinal block. (In Vitro) :Procaine hydrochloride (0.01-100 microM) inhibited the 5-HT3 receptor-mediated inward current in the whole-cell patch clamp recording. Procaine appears to produce a competitive inhibition on 5-HT3 receptors with a KD of 1.7 microM. Procaine is a DNA-demethylating agent that produces a 40% reduction in 5-methylcytosine DNA content as determined by high-performance capillary electrophoresis or total DNA enzyme digestion. Procaine can also demethylate densely hypermethylated CpG islands. Procaine also has growth-inhibitory effects in these cancer cells, causing mitotic arrest. Procaine functions as an excitant of limbic system cells, and that procaine alters synaptic transmission in some, but not all, output pathways from the amygdale.