The Action of Hypnotic Drugs on Frog Skeletal Muscle

Quilliam, J. P.

doi:10.1111/j.1476-5381.1955.tb00071.x

Cited by 21 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Since barbitone was one of the drugs found by us to impair the response of the nictitating membrane to postganglionic stimulation when injected intravenously, an additional effect of barbitone on the membrane may in part account for the higher value for its activity on this preparation estimated by intravenous injection. An analogous investigation into the action of several hypnotic drugs on neuromuscular transmission, using the frog iliofibularis muscle, has been undertaken by Quilliam (1955a). Comparison with the present study shows that chlorbutol, carbromal, methylpentynol and paraldehyde depressed both neuromuscular and ganglionic transmission.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 58%

The Effects of Some Centrally‐acting Drugs on Ganglionic Transmission in the Cat

Brown

Quilliam

1964

British Journal of Pharmacology and Chemotherapy

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Transmission through the cat superior cervical ganglion was studied by recording the response of the nictitating membrane to both pre-and postganglionic cervical sympathetic nerve stimulation. The intra-arterial injection of central depressant drugs to the ganglion through the lingual artery depressed transmission through the ganglion. The central depressant drugs tested were (in decreasing order of activity): amylobarbitone, pentobarbitone, carbromal, benactyzine, mephobarbitone, hydroxyzine, phenobarbitone, azacyclonol, methylpentynol carbamate, paraldehyde, phenytoin, mephenesin, chlorbutol, troxidone, methylpentynol and barbitone. All were weaker ganglion-blocking agents than tetraethylammonium. The intra-arterial injection of the central stimulant drugs leptazol, bemegride, amiphenazole and 5-(1,3-dimethylbut-2-enyl)-5-ethylbarbituric acid (McN 481) also depressed ganglionic transmission. Leptazol or bemegride did not antagonize the ganglion-blocking action of amylobarbitone or troxidone. The intra-arterial injection of pecazine and perphenazine, and the intravenous injection of barbitone, benactyzine, azacyclonol, hydroxyzine, mephenesin, methylpentynol and paraldehyde impaired the response of the nictitating membrane to both post-and preganglionic stimulation. The implications of these observations are discussed.The action of central depressant drugs on transmission through sympathetic ganglia is of interest both as an index of their possible effects on central synapses and as a means of obtaining further information regarding the nature of synaptic transmission in general.This paper reports the effects of a number of centrally-acting drugs on transmission through the cat superior cervical ganglion in vivo, using the conventional nictitating membrane preparation. To reduce side-effects due to the systemic accumulation of these drugs, which are weak ganglion-blocking agents, the effects of the drugs were localized to the ganglion by injecting them intra-arterially through the lingual artery, according to the method of Morrison & Paton (1953). Some effects of intra-arterially injected methylpentynol and paraldehyde have been reported previously (Quilliam, 1957(Quilliam, , 1959. METHODSCats were anaesthetized with chloralose (60 mg/kg) administered intravenously after induction with ethyl chloride and ether, or with an intraperitoneal injection of sodium pentobarbitone (35 to 45 mg/kg). The pre-and postganglionic cervical sympathetic nerve trunks

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 58%

The Effects of Some Centrally‐acting Drugs on Ganglionic Transmission in the Cat

Brown

Quilliam

1964

British Journal of Pharmacology and Chemotherapy

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“…

Paraldehyde and methylpentynol block neuromuscular transmission (Quilliam, 1955), and the object of the present study was to analyse the mode of action of the two drugs using electrical methods. The experimental evidence obtained suggests that the neuromuscular blocking activity of paraldehyde and of methylpentynol can be accounted for by their action in decreasing ACh release.

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confidence: 99%

The Mechanism of Action of Paraldehyde and Methylpentynol on Neuromuscular Transmission in the Frog

Nicholls

Quilliam

1956

British Journal of Pharmacology and Chemotherapy

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“…Barbiturates depress reticular activation, ganglionic transmission, and the cord reflexes, but they do not have peripheral atropinelike effects (Exley, 1954) or skeletal neuromuscular-blocking effects (Quilliam, 1955). Our observation that depression of reticular.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Effects of Drugs Which Depress the Peripheral Nervous System on the Reticular Activating System of the Cat

Exley

Fleming

Espelien

1958

British Journal of Pharmacology and Chemotherapy

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Some drugs with depressant properties on the peripheral nervous system have been examined for depressant effects on the reticular activating system of the cat. Large doses of nicotine, or of the anti-nicotinic agents dihydro-perythroidine and mecamylamine, failed to depress the reticular activating system; non-quaternary drugs with anti-muscarinic properties, such as atropine and hyoscine, depressed it readily. Hyoscine was the most potent depressant tested and its effects could be antagonized by physostigmine. In contradistinction, depression of the reticular activating system with pentobarbitone was not antagonized by physostigmine. Lignocaine was a weak depressant of the reticular activating system, and the possibility that this might be due to a central anti-muscarinic action is discussed. Adrenergic blocking drugs, such as dihydroergotamine, phenoxybenzamine or choline 2: 6-xylyl ether, did not appear to depress the reticular activating system: the significance of this is discussed. It was concluded that the hypothetical cholinergic transmitter, acting somewhere within the reticular activating system, displayed actions analogous to the muscarinic, and not to the nicotinic, actions of acetylcholine.The discovery by Moruzzi and Magoun (1949) that electrical stimulation of the brain stem reticular formation is followed by behavioural and electroencephalographic signs of arousal in animals was an outstandingly important contribution to neurological science. The recognition of such a reticular activating system has provided neurophysiologists, and in particular Magoun and his associates, with a means of disentangling some of the complex reactions of the brain to the influx of sensory information; it has stimulated neuroanatomists in their search for recognizable functional pathways inter-connecting cortex and midbrain; and it has given neuropharmacologists a valuable tool for investigating the effects of drugs upon the elusive central synapse.The demonstration that the reticular formation is particularly susceptible to the depressant effects of hypnotic and anaesthetic agents (French, Verzeano, and Magoun, 1953a;Arduini and Arduini, 1954) has been followed by several useful analyses of the effects of various drugs on the reticular arousal system (for example, Domino,

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The Action of Hypnotic Drugs on Frog Skeletal Muscle

Cited by 21 publications

References 9 publications

The Effects of Some Centrally‐acting Drugs on Ganglionic Transmission in the Cat

The Effects of Some Centrally‐acting Drugs on Ganglionic Transmission in the Cat

The Mechanism of Action of Paraldehyde and Methylpentynol on Neuromuscular Transmission in the Frog

Effects of Drugs Which Depress the Peripheral Nervous System on the Reticular Activating System of the Cat

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