The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics
-
J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. · Dec 1975
The depressant effect of halothane and sodium thiopental on the spontaneous and evoked activity of dorsal horn cells: lamina specificity, time course and dose dependence.
The effects of halothane and sodium thiopental on dorsal horn cell unit activity were studied in the lumbar spinal cord of decerebrate, low thoracic spinal cats. Both halothane (0.5, 1 and 1.5%) and sodium thiopental (2.5, 5 and 10 mg/kg) depressed, in a dose-dependent manner, the spontaneous firing frequency of cells in Rexed laminae I, V and VI and the evoked firing frequency of cells in laminae I and V. ⋯ The recovery of cell activity occurred within 15 to 30 minutes after discontinuation of halothane and within 10 to 30 minutes after intravenous administration of sodium thiopental. The depressive effect of halothane and sodium thiopental, both primarily hypnotic anesthetics, on lamina VI cells is in contrast to our previous finding that morphine sulfate, nitrous oxide and ketamine hydrochloride, primarily analgesic agents, had no significant effect on this lamina.