DETERMINATION OF THE THERAPEUTIC RANGE OF GITALIN IN THE HEART-LUNG PREPARATION OF THE DOG

¹ Department of Physiology and Department of Pharmacology, New York State University, College of Medicine, at Syracuse, New York

1. The therapeutic, toxic, and lethal doses of amorphous gitalin and g-strophanthin were determined by administering slow infusions of these compounds to dog heart-lung preparations which were in mild failure.

2. The minimum lethal dose of gitalin was approximately thirty times that of g-strophanthin.

3. The therapeutic and irregularity doses of gitalin were approximately 15 per cent and 51 per cent, respectively, of the lethal dose. These values are similar to those obtained with other cardiac glycosides tested under similar conditions. No evidence of a greater margin of safety of gitalin was demonstrated in these experiments.

4. It is possible that extra-cardiac factors may influence the therapeutic range of the digitalis compounds.