The toxicity of caffein : an experimental study on different species of animals / By William Salant and J. B. Rieger.

  • Salant, William, 1870-1943.
Date:
1912
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The toxicity of caffein : an experimental study on different species of animals / By William Salant and J. B. Rieger. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    cafTein sodium salicylate given to the same animal subcutaneously two days previously provoked only very slight symptoms. The sub- cutaneous injection of 10 grams of the same preparation into a pig weighing 30 kilos caused death in two and a half hours, with the pro- duction of symptoms of disturbance of the nervous system and of gastrointestinal irritation. The same dose per kilo of body weight given to a goat likewise caused death in two and a half hours after its administration. P^xammation on autopsy revealed inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Similar lesions were found in a horse killed by 100 grams of calTein, in which he also noticed hemorrhage of the mucosa in the fundus of the stomach. Gourewitch ^* (1907) conducted experiments with caffein on rabbits, pigeons, and wliite rats. It appears from his protocol that single doses of about 0.2 to 0.25 gram caffein per kilo given subcuta- neously proved to be fatal. He states, however, that the resistance to caffein was markedly diminished, when its administration was repeated daily, for much smaller amounts sufficed to cause death in these animals. A dose of 120 mg of caffein per kilo proved fatal after the third injection. When the dose was increased to 170 mg per kilo, the animal succumbed to the effects of caffein after the second injec- tion. His experiments on the other animals do not indicate the degree of resistance to caffein, since the weights for some were n<H given while for the others no attempt was made to determine the minimum toxic or fatal dose. Maurel ^'^ (1907) studied the influence of different methods of administration on the toxicity of caffein on frogs and rabbits. He determined the minimum toxic and lethal doses of caffein hydro- bromid which he employed in 1 to 2 per cent solutions. He concluded from his experiments that the toxicity of caffein when given by mouth is twice as great for the frog as for the rabbit. More recently Hale •^' carried out a number of experiments on guinea ])igs in which he determined the toxicity of caffein given in the form of the citrate and made into a pill with mucilage of acacia and arrow- root starch. After the pill was dried it was fed to the animal, due precaution being taken that none of it was lost during feeding. From experiments on guinea pigs which received doses of ().;? to 0.6 gram caffein citrate, the following data have been reported: Tliree decigrams per kilo given to one pig was not fatal. Of three pigs which received 0.4 per kilo, one died and two survived. Exactly the same results were obtained in three others which received 0.5 per kilo. Two guinea pigs, which received 0.55 and 0.6 per kilo each, died after 15 and 7 hours, respectively, while another animal survived a dose of 0.45 per kilo. 18594°—Bull. 14&—12 2