A STUDY OF THE TOXIC AND ANESTHETIC PROPERTIES OF SODIUM N-HEXYLETHYL BARBITURATE (ORTAL SODIUM) IN EXPERIMENTAL ANIMALS

¹ From the Department of Pharmacology, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1. The minimal anesthetic intraperitoneal dose of ortal sodium in rats is between 100 to 110 mgm. per kilogram.

2. The minimal lethal intraperitoneal dose of the barbiturate in rats is between 240 and 250 mgm. per kilogram.

3. The factor of safety of ortal as found in rats is between 2.2 and 2.5.

4. Within limits the duration of anesthesia in rats is dependent upon the size of the animals. With the same dose the average duration is longer in large rats than in small ones.

5. The most favorable dose for anesthesia in mice and rats is 150 mgm. per kilogram.

6. In rabbits and cats the toxic and anesthetic doses of ortal sodium when given intravenously are very nearly equal. Much better results were obtained with intraperitoneal and oral administrations in these animals.

7. In those rabbits and cats in which respiration ceased, the barbiturate appeared to produce some peripheral paralysis of the nerves to the respiratory muscles.

8. In dogs the minimal anesthetic dose was found to be 40 mgm. per kilogram when given intravenously, at the rate of 100 mgm. per minute.

9. The minimal lethal dose in dogs was over 75 mgm. per kilogram administered intravenously.

10. The factor of safety in dogs is over 1.88.

11. As with most other sodium barbiturates the subcutaneous injection of a 10 per cent solution of ortal sodium causes sloughing of the infiltrated area.

12. With the same doses, ortal sodium produces anesthesia in dogs lasting only one-third as long as that produced by sodium amytal.

13. The duration of anesthesia in dogs was not changed by excision of the kidneys.

14. Ortal sodium is destroyed in the body.