ON THE POISONOUS ACTION OF "ASETAKE"

¹ From the Pharmacological Institute of the Imperial University of Tokio, Japan

The foregoing experiments and observations give rise to the following conclusions:

1. The poisonous action of "Asetake" (sweat-fungus) agrees exactly with that of muscarine, in that an extract of this fungus produces in the cat increased secretion of saliva, sweat and bronchial mucus, acceleration of peristaltic motion, slowing of the pulse and myosis.

2. The poisonous action of this extract accords with that of muscarine in that myosis produced in cat by the extract is due to the irritation of the peripheral ends of the nervus oculomotorius.

3. The poisonous action of this extract accords with that of muscarine, (1) in that the motor nerves of frogs are not affected by this poison, and (2) in that at room temperature (25°C. or 26°C.), the poisoned heart beats very slowly while at a lower temperature (19°C.) it ceases to beat in diastole, and (3) in that both slowing and cessation of the heartbeat are counteracted by the application of atropine.

4. The poisonous action of the extract accords with that of muscarine, in that in rabbits the poison stimulates the ends of the nervus vagus and produces a considerable lowering of the blood pressure and a remarkable slowing of the heartbeat.

From the results above mentioned, it is not difficult to draw the conclusion that the poisonous ingredient of "Asetake" is identical with the muscarine contained in "Ashitakabenitake" (or "Akahaitori"), Agaricus muscarinus. The latter contains a very small quantity of muscarine and a large quantity of a spasmodic poison. Therefore, the poisoning by the latter should differ largely from that by the former. In the present case however, the experiments performed on several animals have not revealed any other symptoms of poisoning than those which are peculiar to muscarine.

In conclusion it remains to be considered why there is a difference between the symptoms of poisoning in man and in cats. The nerves that innervate the sweat glands both in man and in the cat belong to the parasympathetic system as I have shown (9). It is my belief that the sensitiveness of the terminals of these nerves to the action of muscarine is much greater in man than in the cat and hence perspiration is induced in man by a slight degree of poisoning while salivation, bronchial râles, vomiting and diarrhoea are only brought on in his case by larger doses. In the case of the cat, on the contrary, it is only a strong degree of poisoning that elicits perspiration along with the other symptoms named.