THE EFFECTS OF INTRAVENOUS INJECTION OF TETRA-ETHYL-AMMONIUM CHLORIDE ON THE INTRA-ARTERIAL BLOOD PRESSURE AND OTHER PHYSIOLOGIC VARIABLES IN MAN

¹ Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Section on Physiology, Mayo Foundation and Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota

By the application of methods of continuously recording several physiologic variables it has been demonstrated that the intravenous injection of 5.5 to 7.7 mg. of tetra-ethyl-ammonium chloride (etamon) per kilogram of body weight in man is followed by a decrease of the intra-arterial systolic blood pressure, an increase of the heart rate, an increase of volume of the leg and ear and a decrease of gastro-intestinal motility. These changes occurred within a period of thirty-nine seconds after the start of the injection of the drug. The effects on the motility of the rectum continued as long as seventy-two minutes after the drug was given while the effects on blood pressure and heart rate were more transient. In this series of eight subjects, the average reductions of arterial pressure and increases of heart rate over fifteen second intervals were statistically significant for a period of twenty to twenty-five minutes after injection of the drug. Slight average decreases in systolic pressure and increases in heart rate persisted for periods of longer than forty minutes after injection of the drug.