ON THE PHARMACOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF dl ALFA-NICOTINE

¹ From the Pharmaco-Therapeutic Laboratory of the University of Amsterdam, Director: prof. dr. E. Laqueur

1. Lethal dose per kilogram of body weight:

[See table in the PDF file]

2. Blood pressure of the cat. Alfa-nicotine causes a very slight fall, followed by a rise, the latter being much smaller than that caused by beta-nicotine (dose 0.01 to 5 mgm. intravenously).

Beta-nicotine causes a strong elevation, which only in the decerebrated cat is preceded by a decrease (dose 0.01 to 5 mgm. intravenously).

3. Respiration. This is first accelerated, and subsequently paralysed by beta-nicotine, in the rat as well as in the frog. No effect of alfa-nicotine was seen.

4. Heart beat frequency in the cat. This is increased by 0.5 to 2 mgm. of beta-nicotine intravenously; the same dose of alfa-nicotine caused no effect.

5. Chronaxie of the muscle-nerve-preparation in the frog. When given in doses of 25 mgm. per kilogram of bodily weight, no marked differences were found in the chronaxies of the muscles and nerves (nervus ischiadicus, musculus gastrocnemius) of normal frogs and of frogs into which alfa- or beta-nicotine had been injected.

6. Local anaesthetic effect on conjunctiva and cornea of rabbits. Solutions of 10 per cent of nicotine of both isomers after 10 minutes did not effect a diminution of the corneal reflex (5 drops of the neutralised solution injected into the conjunctival sack).

7. Heart-lung-preparation. Alfa- as well as beta-nicotine, in quantities varying from 50 gammas to 5 mgm., only exert a very small influence on the heart-lung-preparation; in this respect no difference could be found to exist between alfa- and beta-nicotine.