Medication and pharmacological aspects: effects of high temperatures

Deleterious effects of elevated temperature on medications

Heat can change the structure of carriers and active substances in medications, sometimes leading to interactions between them. Many pharmacological products act on receptors within the human body, and even small changes in structure can have very different effects (e.g. a ligand binds irreversibly as a result of the change, etc.).

Thus, heat can reduce the drug content, change the action, even cause unwanted side effects, and/or deteriorates the consistency of the drug. Compounds containing peptide bonds (e.g. staphostatins), as well as vaccines (both viral and bacterial) are highly sensitive to high external temperatures.

Some medications known to be heat sensitive:

Adrenaline, acetone, acryflavine, p-amino benzoic acid esters, p-amino salicylic acid, amobarbital, aneurine, apoatropine, apomorphine, ascorbic acid, atropine,

benzocaine, benzodiazepines, benzyl alcohol, benzyl nicotinate, benzyl maleate, erythromycin, neostigmine bromide, nicotinic acid, nicotinic acid amide, nifedipine, -cyric acid esters, nitrofurazone, prednisone, prednisolone, progesterone, propyl gallate, piridoxine hydrochloride, reserpine, resorcinol, riboflavin, sorbic acid, streptomycin, strofantin, sulfonamides, testosterone, tetracaine, alpha-tocopherol acetate, triethanolamine, vanillin, waxes, xanthocillin, yohimbine.