Abstract
Summary
1. Liver slices of rat, mouse, dog, guinea pig, rabbit and pigeon were incubated with reserpine-C14. 2. Demethylation of the 4-methoxy position of trimethoxyben-zoic acid moiety of reserpine was observed to occur, with rat liver slices most active in this respect. 3. Hydrolysis of reserpine was observed to occur with liberation of free tri-methoxybenzoic acid. Guinea pig liver slices were most active in this respect. 4. Esteratic activity resides chiefly in the microsomes of guinea pig liver. 5. Demethylation or hydrolysis or both by liver slices is not correlated with dose requirement for typical tranquilizing response. 6. Rate of excretion of C14 by the guinea pig was studied in vivo after intravenous injection of reserpine-C14.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.