Chinese Journal of Physiology

Chinese Journal of Physiology, 1929, Vol, III, No, 1, pp. 95—108,

COMPARATIVE STUDIES OF EPHEDRINE, RACEMIC EPHEDRINE AND PSEUDOEPHEDRINE* III, EFFECTS ON THE NASAL MUCOUS MEMBRANES —

TSE KING anp CHUBYUNG PAK

(From the Departments of Otolaryngology and Pharmacology, Peking Union Medical College, Peping)

Received for publication Nov. 15, 1928

Ephedrine is absorbed easily and quickly from the nasal mucous membrane, By either intravenous injection or local application, ephedrine produces a strong and sustained constriction of the nasal vessels. This effect has been demonstrated by King and Pak (38) to be much longer than that obtained with adrenalin or cocaine under similar circumstances. Berger and Ebster (1) found in asthmatic patients that the same dose of ephetonin has a slower and weaker effect than ephedrine, sometimes it required two to three times more ephetonin than ephedrine to produce the desired effect. However untoward symptoms from ephetonin were observed by them to be Jess frequent than from ephedrine. They used a 5 per cent spray in the treatment of acute infectious thinitis and hay fever. Gay and Herman (2) in their preliminary report declared that the dose of ephetonin required to relieve asthmatic attacks, was greater than that of the natural ephedrine.

Pak and Read (5, 6) have demonstrated that ephetonin is less active than ephedrine upon the blood pressure, also showing that the latter is more active upon the sympathetic nervous system, and the former is more active upon muscle; moreover they found the M.L.D. for frogs, rats, rabbits and dogs was not the same, ephedrine being about 30 per cent stronger than ephetonin.

Seeing that there is this qualitative and quantitative difference in the action of these two isomers, it was highly desirable to demonstrate

*Preliminary communication read before the Chinese Physiological Society, Peking, January, 1928,