A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Medicine, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, for the Degree of Master of Science. / Serotonin (5-Hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) mediates vasoconstriction and vasodilation in the normal coronary circulation of various animal species. In the presence of coronary artery disease serotonin may inhibit coronary collateral formation and stimulate predominantly vasoconstriction. This study tested the effect of ketanserin, a selective 5-HT2 receptor antagonist and platelet aggregation inhibitor, on ischaemic myocardium blood flow and coronary collateral formation following coronary artery occlusion in primates. / IT2018

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The benefits of intravenous therapy have become more and more apparent over the years. Medications can be given rapidly with an expectant rapid onset of action. The response to the drugs or fluids can often be closely controlled by regulating the dose or rate of administration. Frequently, adequate blood and tissue levels needed to eradicate many serious infections can be reached only by this route. Intravenous therapy is an especially appropriate method when the use of the oral tract, for one reason or another, cannot be used. The development of intravenous therapy, however, did not proceed without its difficulties. Problems of allergic reactions, incompatible blood groups, bacterial contamination, particulate matter, thrombophlebitic syndromes, stability of solutions, and incompatibilities of admixtures soon became apparent. The purpose of this paper is to explore certain aspects of the latter problem, i.e., intravenous incompatibilities.

Within the past several years, a great deal of attention has been focused on the phenomena of drug-drug interactions and their importance in the therapeutic regimen of patients for whom multiple therapeutic agents might be indicated. The rather sudden concern for this aspect of medical and pharmaceutical practice is evidenced by the proliferation of literature devoted to the topic for both professions. While iatrogenic disease has long been recognized as one of the hazards inherent in prescribing practices, only isolated reports of specific interactions were found until recently. Although it cannot be said with certainty when the first interaction of two drugs was noticed, such possibilities began to come to light with the observation that concomitant administration of an antacid with a tetracycline would impair the absorption or the anti- biotic (1). A concerted effort to bring order to our recognising and understanding of such interactions has taken place only within the past ten years

There is considerable evidence to suggest that dopamine (DA), in addition to its role as a precursor of norepinephrine (NE) and ephinephrine, has important physiological actions in its own right. One physiological action of DA seems to be that of a neurotransmitter in the mammalian brain (Hornykiewicz, 1966). In addition, there is evidence that abnormalities of dopaminergic transmission in the central nervous system (CNS) may be of clinical importance. For example, dopaminergic over activity in the mesolimbic forebrain may be a primary feature in the etiology of schizophrenia (Meltzer and Stahl, 1976). The drugs used to treat schizophrenia act as DA antagonists in the brain (Snyder et al., 1974; Robinson et al., 1979). Drugs such as phenothiazines and butyrophenones have been shown in clinical studies to be effective in treating the fundamental symptoms of psychosis (Snyder et al., 1974). The results of animal experiments indicate that their principal mode of action is blockade of DA receptor sites in the CNS (VanRossum, 1966). However, these neuroleptics are generally nonspecific in their effects upon DA neurons and thus, cause major undesireable side effects. If new drugs could be discovered that were more structurally selective for different DA systems, then, perhaps these undesireable side effects could be eliminated. In order to develop such drugs, a closer look would have to be made at different DA systems in an attempt to demonstrate DA receptors which are topographically distinct and can thus be selectively regulated by both agonistic and antagonistic agents. The demonstration of more than one DA receptor in mammalian CNS is the subject of the research presented in this thesis.