CUMULATIVE POISONING BY LANADIGIN, OUABAIN, AND DIGITOXIN IN DOGS

¹ From the Department of Pharmacology, Peiping Union Medical College, Peiping

1. The potency of ouabain, lanadigin, and digitoxin in relation to each other as determined by acute experiment, was found to be: ouabain 10, lanadigin 2, and digitoxin 1 in the frog and ouabain 4, lanadigin 1, and digitoxin 1 in the dog.

2. A fraction of the lethal dose of each preparation was injected intravenously once daily into unanaesthetized dogs until death occurred. Of the three drugs, lanadigin was the most effective cumulative poison. Ouabain in comparison with digitoxin was as potent if not more potent.

3. The effects of repeated doses of digitoxin into dogs were found (in confirmation of the work of others) to be clearly different from the effects of repeated doses into cats.

4. In terms of acute lethal doses, dogs were fatally poisoned more quickly by repeated doses of tincture of digitalis (two samples) than by repeated doses of digitoxin.