[A 5-year-old patient with allergic diseases responsive to stellate ganglion block].

We examined a 5-year-old boy with allergic rhinitis, chronic sinusitis, atopic dermatitis, and tendency to suffer common cold, who responded to stellate ganglion block (SGB). SGB therapy was extremely effective for this patient. The result suggests that SGB therapy should be performed on patients with allergic diseases resistant to drug and diet therapy. Furthermore, the indication for nerve block therapy, such as SGB, may be extended even to pediatric patients.

[Three cases of irritable bowel syndrome treated with stellate ganglion block].

We examined three patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) who did not respond to drug therapy and who were treated by stellate ganglion block (SGB) alone. The clinical symptoms improved by the SGB in all these three patients. There was no recurrence. The pathophysiological mechanism of this disease and the therapeutic efficacy of SGB should be elucidated with respect to the autonomic nervous, endocrine and immune systems. These results suggest that SGB therapy is effective for IBS, a typical psychosomatic disease.

[The effect of RO15-1788 on the interaction between pancuronium and diazepam].

Some reports have shown that diazepam potentiates the neuromuscular blocking effect of pancuronium in in vitro experiments. Another report shows that a receptor for diazepam is present in the rat diaphragm and there is a direct blocking effect by diazepam of the neuromuscular junction of diaphragm muscle. Such interaction, consequently, may be related to the peripheral diazepam receptor. Based on such a hypothesis, RO15-1788, a recently developed diazepam antagonist, was used in an attempt to clarify the mechanism of such interaction. Hemidiaphragm preparations were immersed in an organ bath filled with Krebs solution which was bubbled with 95% oxygen and 5% carbon dioxide at 37 degrees C. The phrenic nerves were stimulated supramaximally at 0.1 Hz intervals. Mechanical twitch responses were recorded. The preparations were divided into five groups (group 1: treated with only 30 microM of diazepam, group 2: treated with 30 microM of diazepam and 3.0 microM of RO15-1788, group 3: treated with 30 microM of diazepam and 4.0 microM of RO15-1788, group 4: treated with 30 microM of diazepam and 6.6 microM of RO15-1788, group 5: without diazepam and RO15-1788). Cumulative dose-response curves were determined for pancuronium, and ED50 was calculated from each of the 5 curves. There was almost no effect of RO15-1788 in group 2, but RO15-1788 increased ED50 for 20% in group 3 (ED50 3.04 +/- 0.10 microM) and for 35% in group 4 (ED50 3.12 +/- 0.07 microM), respectively, as compared with group 1 (ED50 2.76 +/- 0.08 microM). This phenomenon shows that diazepam was antagonized significantly by RO15-1788.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)