THE INTERACTION OF SOME STIMULANT AND DEPRESSANT DRUGS ON THE FROG HEART.

THE ACTIVITY OF FROG ISOLATED HEARTS WAS DEPRESSED BY ALTERING THE PERFUSING RINGER SOLUTION IN FIVE DIFFERENT WAYS: by reducing the calcium content, by increasing the potassium content, and by adding ether, thiopentone or acetylcholine. Depressed hearts were perfused with Ringer solution containing the following stimulant drugs: paullinia tannin, tannic acid, hydrogen peroxide, sodium oleate, sodium caprylate and ouabain. All these stimulant drugs had similar actions on hearts depressed by calcium lack, ether and thiopentone; hearts depressed by acetylcholine were, however, only weakly stimulated. Hearts depressed by potassium were readily stimulated by oleate, caprylate and paullinia tannin; ouabain and hydrogen peroxide had weak stimulant actions on hearts depressed by potassium, and tannic acid had a negative inotropic action. The differing actions on hearts depressed by potassium are probably related to differences in the degrees of fixation of the stimulant drugs. The mode of action of ouabain and the functional lesion in hearts depressed by narcotics are discussed.