AN INVESTIGATION OF THE ADRENERGIC BLOCKING ACTION OF CHLORPROMAZINE

Antagonism by chlorpromazine of the responses of the rabbit aortic strip and the rat seminal vesicle to adrenaline and noradrenaline fulfils the conditions of competitive antagonism. Chlorpromazine was a remarkably potent antagonist (pA(2) approximately 14) of adrenaline and noradrenaline. In the cat anaesthetized with chloralose small doses (1.8 to 4.5 mg/kg) of chlorpromazine greatly reduced or reversed the pressor effect of adrenaline but the pressor effect of noradrenaline was unaffected. A larger dose (9 mg/kg) of chlorpromazine slightly reduced the pressor effect of noradrenaline but caused a spectacular reversal of the pressor effect of adrenaline. This difference was not observed in rabbits and in cats treated with dichloroisoprenaline. Chlorpromazine potentiated the depressor effect of isoprenaline. On the basis of these findings it is concluded that in the cat chlorpromazine in small doses (1.8 to 4.5 mg/kg) has no real adrenergic blocking action and that the selective block of adrenaline pressor effects by these doses is due to a potentiation of adrenergic vasodilatation. Large doses (7.2 to 28.8 mg/kg) of chlorpromazine reduced the pressor effect of noradrenaline; reciprocal analysis showed that this inhibition is competitive.

A COMPARISON OF IMIPRAMINE, CHLORPROMAZINE AND RELATED DRUGS IN VARIOUS TESTS INVOLVING AUTONOMIC FUNCTIONS AND ANTAGONISM OF RESERPINE

Seven structurally-related compounds consisting of three antidepressant drugs (imipramine, desmethylimipramine and amitriptyline), three tranquillizing agents (promazine, chlorpromazine and chlorprothixene) and a hybrid, desmethylpromazine, have been examined in a series of tests involving autonomic functions and antagonism of reserpine. Activities of the compounds in antagonizing reserpine-induced ptosis in rabbits and prolongation of alcohol hypnosis in mice give good correlation with their clinical actions, whilst their activities in augmenting excitation of rats by amphetamine and yohimbine toxicity in mice, and in reversing reserpine-induced bradycardia in rats offer further evidence for drug-induced sensitization to adrenergic or tryptaminic mechanisms, which is not however specific for antidepressant agents. No evidence has been obtained to indicate that a central parasympatholytic action is an important component of the antidepressant activity of imipramine and related drugs.

VENOUS AND ARTERIAL RESPONSES TO STIMULATION OF BETA ADRENERGIC RECEPTORS

The effects of intra-arterial injections of isoproterenol on small vessels, arteries, and veins were studied in the paw and muscle of the foreleg of dog. Total blood flow to the foreleg was held constant. Blood pressures were measured in large and small arteries and veins. In some experiments venous outflow from paw and muscle was measured. The small vessel segment was the site of major dilatation. Venodilator responses were small, but they were enhanced when isoproterenol was injected in the presence of venous constriction induced by intra-arterial infusions of norepinephrine. Dichloroisoproterenol and nethalide blocked the dilator responses to isoproterenol in all segments but they did not block the dilator responses to acetylcholine or glyceryl trinitrate. Isoproterenol did not change the distribution of blood flow within the foreleg; responses in muscle and paw were not significantly different. The results indicate that stimulation of beta receptors with isoproterenol causes much more dilatation in small vessels than in veins in the foreleg and that small vessels of both paw and muscle dilate equally.