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EXPERIMENTS ON THE MECHANISM OF ACTION OF CHLOROCRESOL AND CAFFEINE
Author(s) -
BIGGS D. F.
Publication year - 1965
Publication title -
british journal of pharmacology and chemotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.432
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1476-5381
pISSN - 0366-0826
DOI - 10.1111/j.1476-5381.1965.tb01740.x
Subject(s) - caffeine , mechanism of action , chemistry , medicine , endocrinology , biochemistry , in vitro
Phenols are known to cause contraction of skeletal muscle. Thus Torda & Wolff (1945a) reported that phenol (1 mg/ml.) caused a contraction of the frog rectus abdominis muscle, and Cori & Cori (1936) and Barnes, Duff & Threlfall (1955) showed that 2,4-dinitrophenol contracted frog skeletal muscle, and the latter also showed that this substance caused a contraction of the isolated diaphragm which was not abolished when the muscle was depolarized with potassium sulphate. Chlorinated phenols, containing from two to five chlorine atoms, cause a contraction of the isolated diaphragm of the rat (Farquharson, Gage & Northover, 1958). The present experiments locate the site of contraction of chlorocresol in the skeletal muscle of the frog to an energy transfer system probably involving calcium ions, and compare its action with that of caffeine which causes contraction without affecting the membrane potential of the muscle cell (Axelsson & Thesleff, 1958), by a process probably involving the release of calcium ions (Bianchi, 1961; Frank, 1962).