Interaction of the antiarrhythmic drug procainamide with phospholipid bilayers

Several hypotheses link the molecular mechanism of action of the antiarrhythmic drugs (AAD) that belong to class I to non-specific interactions with phospholipids sited in the neighborhood of sodium channels in the membrane of the myocardium. Procainamide (PROC), one of the least lipophilic drugs of this group, was induced to interact with bilayers of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) and dimirystoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DMPE), liposomes of DMPC and human erythrocytes. The perturbing effects of PROC upon these systems were respectively determined by X-ray diffraction, fluorescence spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. It was found that PROC exerted very little effect upon DMPC and DMPE even at such a high concentration as 10 mM. However, at therapeutical plasma concentrations, PROC induced shape changes in vitro to red cells.