Abstract

It has been observed that a fatty meal will cause a significant reduction in thiopental sleeping time in rabbits as well as rats. This reduction in sleeping time is not a non-specific phenomena as it does not occur with pentobarbital in rabbits. A similar reduction in sleeping time has been observed when an intravenous fat emulsion is administered to both rats and rabbits. The effect of both orally and intravenously administered fat is reversed by the administration of heparin in rabbits. Since heparin itself has no effect on the thiopental sleeping time in rabbits, it has been concluded that the fatty meal exerts its effect by virtue of the chylomicronemia that results from the absorption of the fat.