Abstract
Veratridine, injected in single (0.05 to 2 mg) or repeated doses or infused at various rates, caused the well-known positive inotropic effect, measured by the strain-gauge arch, in nonfailing heart-lung preparations. This effect was associated with either a gain or a loss of cardiac potassium, as measured within 90 seconds after the injection. The loss occurred with larger doses (0.4 mg or more) and was associated with (but sometimes preceded) ventricular irregularities or ventricular tachycardia. The gain occurred with 3 out of 7 smaller single doses(0.05 to 0.4 mg) and was successively increased by successive small doses, or increased progressively with infusions at suitable rates. Either the gain or the loss could reach 15 µg per minute per 100 g wet heart weight.
Footnotes
- Received May 4, 1961.
- © 1961, by The Williams & Wilkins Company
JPET articles become freely available 12 months after publication, and remain freely available for 5 years.Non-open access articles that fall outside this five year window are available only to institutional subscribers and current ASPET members, or through the article purchase feature at the bottom of the page.
|