The local anesthetic potency of norcocaine, a metabolite of cocaine.
The local anesthetic effects of cocaine and one of its main metabolites norcocaine, were investigated comparatively on isolated ganglion cells of the marine gastropod, Aplysia californica. During a 4-hour-period, different action potential parameters such as amplitude, duration, maximum rate of rise were observed, which demonstrated that norcocaine exhibits a higher local anesthetic potency than cocaine.