EFFECT OF CONVULSANT AND ANTICONVULSANT AGENTS ON ACETYLCHOLINE METABOLISM (ACTIVITY OF CHOLINE ACETYLASE, CHOLINESTERASE) AND ON SENSITIVITY TO ACETYLCHOLINE OF EFFECTOR ORGANS

Abstract

Pentamethylene tetrazol and picrotoxin increased acetylcholine synthesis, NaBr and trimethadione did not modify it and scilliroside, digitoxin, camphor, morphine, strychnine, the barbiturates, and hydantoin and its derivatives decreased acetylcholine synthesis. Strychnine, morphine, scilliroside, pentamethylene tetrazol, picrotoxin, and methyl-phenyl-ethyl hydantoin decreased the activity of cholinesterase; NaBr, in concn. of 10-2 [image], increased it; and the other substances did not modify the activity of cholinesterase (obtained from brain and serum). The acetylcholine sensitivity of striated muscle, used as an indicator of the acetylcholine sensitivity of effector organs, increased in the presence of pentamethylene tetrazol, picrotoxin, morphine and to a small extent in the presence of phenobarbital, diallylmalonyl-urea and iso-amyl-ethyl-barbiturate-Na; the acetylcholine sensitivity was not modified in the presence of trimethadione, barbital-Na and digitoxin, and decreased in the presence of the other substances. The K sensitivity of striated muscle usually increased in the presence of lower concns. of the substances used and often decreased in the presence of higher concn. The results suggest that although an accumulation of acetylcholine may precipitate convulsions, it is, per se, not the primary factor in their induction.