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Theoretical studies on water–tetracaine interaction
Author(s) -
Bernardi R. C.,
Gomes D. E. B.,
Pascutti P. G.,
Ito A. S.,
Ota A. T.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
international journal of quantum chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.484
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1097-461X
pISSN - 0020-7608
DOI - 10.1002/qua.20881
Subject(s) - tetracaine , protonation , chemistry , molecule , density functional theory , computational chemistry , aqueous solution , molecular dynamics , anesthetic , chemical physics , stereochemistry , ion , organic chemistry , medicine , psychology , anesthesia , lidocaine , psychiatry
The action of local anesthetics (LA) is controversial. There is experimental evidence that the unprotonated form of LA penetrates the axon, while the charged form acts in the intracellular phase. To obtain some insight on the structure of the local anesthetics tetracaine and its pharmacological action, we made calculations using the density functional theory (DFT) method. After those calculations, we performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in a p, N, T ensemble, in an aqueous environment, on both unprotonated and protonated forms of the molecule. The radial distribution function was used to study water solvent effects, through the characterization of the affinity of tetracaine to water. The results indicate that the molecule has regions with different degree of hydrophobicity, and the N‐terminal of the anesthetic was primarily affected by changes in the protonation state of the anesthetic. The pH‐dependent activity of TTC should then be analyzed in view of local changes in different regions of the molecule, rather than in terms of general effects on the hydrophobicity of the molecule as a whole. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2006