THE ANALEPTIC ACTION OF 1-n-BUTYLAMINO-3-p-TOLUIDINO-2-PROPANOL (W181) IN MEPHENESIN PARALYSIS

¹ Wallace Laboratories, Inc., New Brunswick, New Jersey

1-n-Butylamino-3-p-toluidino-2-propanol, called W181, possesses convulsant activity in similar doses as picrotoxin. W181 differs from picrotoxin in producing convulsions of greater violence, in possessing an even narrower margin between convulsant and lethal doses and in not causing delayed convulsions.

W181 is the only known drug that can arouse animals from paralysis caused by mephenesin. W181 is however ineffective in saving the lives of animals which have received lethal doses of mephenesin.

W181 has a marked analeptic action in pentobarbital anesthesia and is in this respect only slightly inferior to picrotoxin. W181 is also effective, but very much less so than picrotoxin, in counteracting the effects of a lethal dose of pentobarbital.

W181 appears unsuitable for the production of therapeutic convulsions in humans because of the narrow margin between convulsant and lethal doses. It would also be inadvisable to use this potent and dangerous drug climcally after an overdose of mephenesin because spontaneous recovery is likely even after ingestion of very large doses of mephenesin.