ADRENALINE (EPINEPHRIN, ADRENINE) 99 



In this connection it is of some interest that Ogawa [1912] has 

 recently shown that when the blood vessels of certain isolated organs 

 (e.g. kidney of dog, cat and rabbit) are perfused with very dilute 

 adrenaline solutions (i : 50 millions) these vessels are dilated. With 

 slightly more concentrated solutions a constriction occurs followed by 

 a secondary dilatation ; larger doses at once produce constriction with- 

 out subsequent dilatation. 



Adrenaline, injected intravenously, causes the bronchioles to dilate 

 and abolishes the contraction due to muscarine (Januschke and Pollak 

 [1911]; confirmed by Dixon and Ransom [1912]; see also Jackson 

 [1912]; Golla and Symes [1913]; Baehr and Pick [1913, I, Ch. I]). 

 Hence adrenaline is used in the treatment of asthma. 



Action on Glands, Langley [1901] has shown that an injection 

 of adrenaline excites the secretory activity of salivary and other glands, 

 and this action, as in the case of plain muscle, apparently persists after 

 the degeneration of the sympathetic nerve supply. 



C. Action on Carbohydrate Metabolism. 



As was first shown by Blum [1901], subcutaneous or intravenous 

 injections of supra-renal extract (in sufficient doses) cause glycosuria ; 

 this action is due to the adrenaline and does not occur after oral 

 administration. The latent period is much longer than in the case of 

 the pressor action and sugar may occur in the urine for several days 

 after the injection. In other respects there is a close analogy to the 

 pressor action. Straub [1909] found adrenaline could be injected 

 continuously at the rate of 0*002 mgm. per minute without causing 

 glycosuria, but that sugar appeared in the urine when the rate of in- 

 jection was doubled. This is" about the same as found by Kretschmer 

 [1907] for the pressor action. Although much work has been done 

 on the subject, the mechanism of adrenaline glycosuria, like that of 

 other forms of glycosuria, has not yet been cleared up. It appears that 

 adrenaline causes a greatly increased production of glucose by the liver 

 and that adrenaline glycosuria is independent of the pancreas. (Com- 

 pare for instance experiments on birds, after extirpation of the pan- 

 creas, by Paton [1903, 1904].) 



Pollak [1909] concludes from his experiments on hungering rab- 

 bits that adrenaline causes an accumulation of glycogen in the liver. 

 Any injection of the drug will also increase the sugar content of the 

 blood, but glycosuria does not necessarily occur; it will do so more 

 probably if diuresis is also set up. In a later paper Pollak [1910] 

 denies the alleged special protective action of d-adrenaline against the 



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