Abstract
In order to determine whether ethanol antagonizes central cholinergic pathways, the effects of anticholinesterase and anticholinergic drugs on ethanol-induced sleeping time and death were studied in mice. Physostigmine, in an optimum dose of 0.1 mg/kg given at the same time as 4.5 g/kg ethanol, significantly shortened sleeping time when compared to controls given saline and ethanol. A physostigmine dose of 0.5 mg/kg combined with the sublethal dose of ethanol produced death in a large percentage of mice. Studies with neostigmine, atropine, and methyl atropine nitrate provided evidence that the cholinergic-ethanol antagonism of sleeping time is a central phenomenon, whereas the cholinergic-ethanol lethality is a peripheral phenomenon. The apparent central cholinergic antagonism of ethanol sleeping time strongly suggests that at least part of ethanol's central depressant action may be concerned with inhibition of acetylcholine release or function.
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Erickson, C.K., Burnam, W.L. Cholinergic alteration of ethanol-induced sleep and death in mice. Agents and Actions 2, 8–13 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01965373
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01965373