Premium
ADRENIN‐LIKE ACTIONS OF COBRA VENOM
Author(s) -
Gunn James A.
Publication year - 1912
Publication title -
quarterly journal of experimental physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.925
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1469-445X
pISSN - 0370-2901
DOI - 10.1113/expphysiol.1912.sp000108
Subject(s) - cobra , venom , naja , contraction (grammar) , stimulation , anatomy , medicine , neuroscience , chemistry , biology , biochemistry , computer science , programming language
The effects produced by cobra venom on the heart and blood‐vessels, as described by Elliot, are comparable rather to an adrenin‐like action than to a strophanthin‐like action, to the latter of which they have been likened by Elliot. Experimental evidence for an adrenin‐like action of cobra venom has been sought in the reaction to it of various kinds of involuntary muscle and of secreting glands. The following table summarises the results obtained, and serves to compare the effects of cobra venom and adrenin. It is evident, therefore, that cobra venom causes contraction of some kinds of unstriated muscle and relaxation of others, and it is, consequently, unlikely that it acts on muscle directly. On the other hand, its action on the heart, on plain muscle, and on secreting glands corresponds so closely with that of adrenin that the presumption is it acts in a similar way, namely, by peripheral stimulation of some part of the sympathetic nerves.