Acetazolamide treatment of hypokalemic periodic paralysis. Probable mechanism of action.
Following administration of glucose and insulin to three patients with hypokalemic periodic paralysis, serum K+ fell 1.9 mM. After administration of acetazolamide, 250 mg four times daily, serum K+ fell 0.9 mM, a substantial difference. In normal persons glucose and insulin lowered serum K+ 0.5 mM, and this was not changed substantially by acetazolamide. The metabolic acidosis induced by the drug appears to be responsible for the change in decrement of serum K+ and for the amelioration of symptoms in the patients. The findings agree with earlier reports that metabolic acidosis lowers the rate of entry of K+ into muscle, thus opposing the heightened or pathological entry of K+ into muscle cells during attacks of the disease.[1]References
- Acetazolamide treatment of hypokalemic periodic paralysis. Probable mechanism of action. Vroom, F.W., Jarrell, M.A., Maren, T.H. Arch. Neurol. (1975) [Pubmed]
Annotations and hyperlinks in this abstract are from individual authors of WikiGenes or automatically generated by the WikiGenes Data Mining Engine. The abstract is from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.About WikiGenesOpen Access LicencePrivacy PolicyTerms of Useapsburg