THE GROWTH AND BLOOD MORPHOLOGY OF RATS RECEIVING SODIUM BROMIDE, CAFFEINE AND COMBINATIONS WITH ACETANILID

¹ From the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut

Sodium bromide, given in one-half the acute fatal dose (1750 mgm. per kilogram) per day to rats, was rapidly fatal, the average survival being 7 days. Addition of one-half the acute fatal dose of acetanilid (400 mgm. per kilogram) had no appreciable effect on the toxicity. Addition of caffeine as well as acetanilid was also without significant effect.

Caffeine in one-half the acute fatal dose per day (100 mgm. per kilogram) to rats for 13 weeks caused a retardation, but not a cessation of growth. Some of the animals (3 out of 10) died during the experiment. The blood showed no significant changes except a rise in the per cent of reticulocytes. Withdrawal of the drug resulted in growth at more than the normal rate, and the per cent of reticulocytes returned to a normal level.

Acetanilid plus caffeine given in one-half the acute fatal dose of each per day to rats for 13 weeks was somewhat more toxic than either drug alone. Four out of 10 of the animals died before the end of the experiment. The growth was slower than with either drug, while the hemoglobin and erythrocytes were at approximate the same level as in rats recieving acetanilid alone.

These studies do not show that either acetanilid and sodium bromide, or acetanilid and caffeine are mutually protective in their toxic effects.