SOME PHARMACOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF PUFFER POISON

¹ Pharmacology Branch, U. S. Army Chemical Warfare Laboratories, Army Chemical Center, Maryland

Puffer poison is a very toxic substance; comparatively small doses cause neuromuscular paralysis, respiratory failure and marked hypotension. The toxic effects of the poison are caused probably by both peripheral and central actions.

The poison is particularly effective in blocking skeletal muscle responses in the cat following slow (1 impulse every 2 sec.) electrical stimulation of the muscle's motor nerve; it is less potent in blocking the muscle's response to repetitive (30/ sec.) motor nerve excitation and still less effective in blocking the muscle's response to direct stimulation. The neuroeffector units of the hind limbs of the cat are apparently more sensitive to the actions of puffer poison than those of the fore limbs.

Cats poisoned with lethal doses of puffer poison usually recover within about 1.3 to 5.3 hours, if kept alive by continuous artificial respiration; Metrazol shortens strikingly the period during which artificial respiration is necessary.