THE PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTIONS OF CULARINE

¹ From the Department of Pharmacology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada

The pharmacological actions of a new alkaloid, cularine, have been investigated and some comparative studies made with hydrastine and papaverine. Cularine was found to be a convulsant drug being approximately one-tenth as powerful as hydrastine in this respect.

One per cent solutions of cularine produced marked anesthesia of the rabbit cornea. The effect was quite similar to that of papaverine and much more definite than that produced by hydrastine.

In the perfused frog heart cularine produced an increase in contractility and tonus. Hydrastine increased tonus but decreased contractility.

Injected intravenously into rabbits, cularine produced an initial fall in blood pressure followed by a return to the normal level.

Cularine diminished the contractility and tonus of isolated rabbit intestine. Hydrastine definitely augmented contractility.

The contractions and tonus of the isolated uterus were greatly augmented by both cularine and hydrastine.

The isolated guinea pig bronchi did not appear to be affected by either alkaloid.

Cularine had no appreciable effect on the blood sugar in rabbits. The alkaloid was not excreted as such in the urine.