Abstract
(1) Chelidonin promptly abolishes the spontaneous contractions of the following excised organs: oesophagus, fundus and pylorus of the frog's stomach, intestine of cat and rabbit, and pregnant uterus of guinea pig.
(2) Chelidonin removes the effects of pilocarpin, pituitrin, histamin and barium chloride upon surviving organs.
(3) The peripheral blood vessels of the frog previously contracted by epinephrin are more rapidly dilated by chelidonin than by Ringer's solution alone. There is also a definite dilator effect upon the untreated vessels.
(4) The constriction of the bronchial musculature by histamin in the surviving lungs of the guinea pig is removed by chelidonin. Bronchoconstriction does not occur with mixtures of histamin and chelidonin. Rabbits previously treated with large doses of chelidonin do not show bronchial spasm with the same doses of histamin as untreated rabbits.
(5) Chelidonin has no demonstrable, effect on the pupil of the excised eye of the frog.
(6) In the living rabbit intravenous injection of chelidonin depresses intestinal peristalsis, and large doses remove the stimulant effects of pilocarpin.
(7) It appears that chelidonin exerts its main effects directly upon smooth muscle.
(8) Therapeutically, chelidonin should prove beneficial in the treatment of such symptoms as asthma, colic and various other enteralgias and gastralgias, and in conditions in which morphin is not well tolerated.
Footnotes
- Received March 24, 1915.
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