Quinidine
An optical isomer of quinine, extracted from the bark of the CHINCHONA tree and similar plant species. This alkaloid dampens the excitability of cardiac and skeletal muscles by blocking sodium and potassium currents across cellular membranes. It prolongs cellular ACTION POTENTIALS, and decreases automaticity. Quinidine also blocks muscarinic and alpha-adrenergic neurotransmission.
Quinine
An alkaloid derived from the bark of the cinchona tree. It is used as an antimalarial drug, and is the active ingredient in extracts of the cinchona that have been used for that purpose since before 1633. Quinine is also a mild antipyretic and analgesic and has been used in common cold preparations for that purpose. It was used commonly and as a bitter and flavoring agent, and is still useful for the treatment of babesiosis. Quinine is also useful in some muscular disorders, especially nocturnal leg cramps and myotonia congenita, because of its direct effects on muscle membrane and sodium channels. The mechanisms of its antimalarial effects are not well understood.
Anti-Arrhythmia Agents
Agents used for the treatment or prevention of cardiac arrhythmias. They may affect the polarization-repolarization phase of the action potential, its excitability or refractoriness, or impulse conduction or membrane responsiveness within cardiac fibers. Anti-arrhythmia agents are often classed into four main groups according to their mechanism of action: sodium channel blockade, beta-adrenergic blockade, repolarization prolongation, or calcium channel blockade.
Cytochrome P-450 CYP2D6
Disopyramide
Flecainide
Dextromethorphan
Methyl analog of DEXTRORPHAN that shows high affinity binding to several regions of the brain, including the medullary cough center. This compound is an NMDA receptor antagonist (RECEPTORS, N-METHYL-D-ASPARTATE) and acts as a non-competitive channel blocker. It is one of the widely used ANTITUSSIVES, and is also used to study the involvement of glutamate receptors in neurotoxicity.
Oxidoreductases, O-Demethylating
Propafenone
Sparteine
Debrisoquin
An adrenergic neuron-blocking drug similar in effects to GUANETHIDINE. It is also noteworthy in being a substrate for a polymorphic cytochrome P-450 enzyme. Persons with certain isoforms of this enzyme are unable to properly metabolize this and many other clinically important drugs. They are commonly referred to as having a debrisoquin 4-hydroxylase polymorphism.