The effect of depressants on the metabolism of stimulated cerebral tissues

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Abstract
Phenobarbitone, butobarbitone, allobarbitone and chloral inhibited the respiration of electrically stimulated sections of rat and guinea pig cerebral tissues. They did so at concns. below 10-3 [image] which had little or no effect on respiration of the same prepns. in the absence of stimulation. Stimulation of the respiration of cerebral cortex by K salts and by 2,4-dinitro-phenol also rendered it more sensitive to depressants. In this, the depressants acted differently from a substance such as atropine which had a selective effect on electrically stimulated tissues. The depressants decreased the lactic acid formed from glucose by electrically stimulated cerebral tissues. This change occurs also during narcosis in vivo and is the opposite to that induced by the depressants in unstimulated tissues in vitro. Inhibition of the respiration of electrically stimulated tissue was prompt and could be reversed when the drug was removed. It is concluded that a successful depressant acts in vivo by inhibiting both energy-yielding and energy-consuming processes in the central nervous system.