The pharmacology of acetone

Abstract

The action of acetone was studied on cats and dogs under light ether anesthesia as well as on the isolated heart of the frog and turtle. In the experiments on intact animals acetone injected intravenously produced a fall of blood-pressure amounting in some cases to fifty per cent., especially in dogs when given in a concentration of fifty per cent. in saline solution, and about 2-3 c.c. per kilo. But in a number of experiments smaller quantities of acetone injected in a concentration of 25 per cent. in saline solution produced a similar effect on the circulation. This occurred almost uniformly in cats. Recovery was prompt, as a rule, even when 50 per cent. acetone was given, but occasionally low blood-pressure persisted for 2-3 minutes when larger amounts were injected. The fall of blood-pressure was due to cardiac depression, as was indicated by the fact that there was a corresponding diminution in the volume of the kidney shown by oncometric studies. That acetone in certain concentrations depresses heart action was also observed in our experiments on the isolated heart. Ten per cent. acetone in Ringer solution produced in all our experiments arrest of the heart, and very frequently the same effect was obtained with a five per cent. solution of acetone. Recovery, however, was observed in all experiments, even when the heart was perfused with ten per cent. acetone for several minutes. Not infrequently a stimulating after-effect was observed. That no permanent injury occurred was further shown by the fact that repeated perfusion of the same heart was followed by recovery. With low concentration of acetone no change in the heart action was observed.

Observations were also made on the behavior of the vagus mechanism under the influence of acetone.