Clinical data | |
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Trade names | Dantrium |
AHFS/Drugs.com | Monograph |
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Routes of administration |
Oral, intravenous |
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Pharmacokinetic data | |
Bioavailability | 70% |
Metabolism | Liver |
Excretion | Biliary, renal |
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ECHA InfoCard | 100.027.895 |
Chemical and physical data | |
Formula | C14H10N4O5 |
Molar mass | 314.253 g/mol |
3D model (Jmol) | |
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(what is this?) |
Dantrolene sodium is a postsynaptic muscle relaxant that lessens excitation-contraction coupling in muscle cells. It achieves this by inhibiting Ca2+ ions release from sarcoplasmic reticulum stores by antagonizing ryanodine receptors. It is the primary drug used for the treatment and prevention of malignant hyperthermia, a rare, life-threatening disorder triggered by general anesthesia. It is also used in the management of neuroleptic malignant syndrome, muscle spasticity (e.g. after strokes, in paraplegia, cerebral palsy, or patients with multiple sclerosis), and 2,4-dinitrophenol poisoning.
It is marketed by Par Pharmaceuticals LLC as Dantrium (in North America) and by Norgine BV as Dantrium, Dantamacrin, or Dantrolen (in Europe). A hospital is recommended to keep a minimum stock of 36 dantrolene vials (720 mg) sufficient for a 70-kg person. As of 2015 the cost for a typical course of medication in the United States is 100 to 200 USD.
Dantrolene was first described in the scientific literature in 1967, as one of several hydantoin derivatives proposed as a new class of muscle relaxant. Dantrolene underwent extensive further development, and its action on skeletal muscle was described in detail in 1973.
Dantrolene was widely used in the management of spasticity before its efficacy in treating malignant hyperthermia was discovered by South African anesthesiologist Gaisford Harrison and reported in a landmark 1975 article published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia. Harrison experimentally induced malignant hyperthermia with halothane anesthesia in genetically susceptible pigs, and obtained an 87.5% survival rate, where seven of his eight experiments survived after intravenous administration of dantrolene. The efficacy of dantrolene in humans was later confirmed in a large, multicenter study published in 1982, and confirmed epidemiologically in 1993. Before dantrolene, the only available treatment for malignant hyperthermia was procaine, which was associated with a 60% mortality rate in animal models.