Effect of Diphenyl Hydantoin (Dilantin) on Ether and Pentobarbital (Nembutal) Narcosis

Abstract

Diphenyl hydantoin (50 mg./kg.) causes about a 40% decrease in the blood ether concn. necessary to suppress the knee jerk. Injd. alone in this concn. it is practically without effect. Administered in the same dose to a preparation in: which the knee jerk was all but suppressed by pentobarbital, it did not enhance the effect of the narcotic; on the contrary, it often produced an increase of the reflex contractions. It seems,therefore, that the depolarizing action on spinal cord elements of diphenyl hydantoin and ether are additive and that depolarization is an important factor in the central narcotic effect of ether. Depolarization does not seem to be a factor in the narcotic effect of pentobarbital.