Abstract
It has been shown that morphine sulphate, when added to the bath in which an excised pig's ureter is contracting, increases the general tonus and increases the rate and force of the rhythmical contractions of the tissue. 1 These findings have been supported by those of Ockerblad, Carlson and Simon 2 on the intact human ureter. Recently Krueger and Howes, 3 Gruber and Brundage, 4 and Mitchell and Harned 5 showed that dilaudid hydrochloride is about 10 times more active than morphine sulphate in bringing about an increase in the general tonus of the intact dog's intestine. Experiments on the excised intestine do not give the same results. 6 On the excised strips of intestine the actions of these 2 drugs were alike.
The experiments here described were done to determine the relative effects of dilaudid hydrochloride and of morphine sulphate on the longitudinal segments of the excised cat's ureters and Bell's muscle. 7 The method employed was practically the same as that previously described. 8 Longitudinal segments of the ureters of cats which had just been killed by a fatal blow on the head were used in all instances. The temperature of the bath, the time interval, etc., were the same as those cited before.
A record was always made of the behavior of the tissue, to serve as a control, before the addition of either drug. Thirty experiments were performed on the excised ureters of 10 cats in which the action of each drug was determined. Fourteen experiments were performed on 10 segments of Bell's muscle in which morphine sulphate and dihydromorphinone hydrochloride were each used.
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