Medical curriculum and pharmacology: An appraisal.

Pharmacology was introduced with Western Medical Education in India in 1900s. RN Chopra was the first Professor of Pharmacology along with patient care in School of Tropical Medicine Calcutta. Now Pharmacologists do not have clinical care nor give laboratory services to hospitals. Medical Education advanced in the West in 1960s with more emphasis on Integrated Teaching and Student Self-study and less on didactic lectures. System Based Learning and Problem Based Learning reduced importance of individual subjects. Medical Council of India (MCI) has mandatory regulations with no major changes in the last 5 decades. Universities and Medical institutions have no freedom in teaching programs. In Pharmacology didactic lectures dominate teaching. Practicals started with Dispensing Pharmacy were later replaced with Experimental Pharmacology. At present after restrictions on animals for study practicals are converted to Theoretical Exercises on Prescription writing and Incompatibilities. Students study mostly before examinations with little influence of yearlong teaching. Suggestions in line with Western Countries: Reduce the course of Pharmacology to 6 months. Examinations should be completely Internal with frequent tests by Internal Examiners. MD (Therapeutics) course may be introduced to teach Pharmacology in first semester. MCI rules to be only advisory and not mandatory. Teaching Institutions should form an independent Association and have freedom in teaching programs. A Nonofficial National Board of Medical Examination has to be formed to conduct an Entrance Test for admissions to Medical College and a National test for each graduate before registration.

Influence of intragastric perfusion of aqueous spice extracts on acid secretion in anesthetized albino rats.

BACKGROUND: The effect of spices on gastric acid secretion is variable. Their mechanism of action is also not well established. AIM: To study the effect of spices on gastric acid secretion in anesthetized rats. METHODS: Aqueous extracts (10% w/v) of red pepper (Capsicum annuum), fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), omum/ajwan (Carum copticum), cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum), black pepper (Piper nigrum), cumin (Cuminum cyminum) and coriander (Coriandrum sativum) were prepared. The stomach of pentobarbitone-anesthetized rats was perfused at 0.15 mL/min with aqueous extracts of spice or acetylcholine (1 microgram/mL or 10 micrograms/mL solutions, in 40 min blocks, twice in each experiment bracketed by saline perfusions. The acid content in the samples was estimated by titration with 0.1N NaOH with phenolphthalein as indicator. Atropine 1 microgram/mL was added to the perfusion fluid in 28 experiments. In 32, acute gastric mucosal injury was induced by leaving aspirin 125 mg/Kg in the stomach for 2 h before perfusion. RESULTS: All the spices tested increased acid secretion in the following declining order: red pepper, fennel, omum, cardamom, black pepper, cumin, coriander. Red pepper increased acid secretion (mean [SEM] 0.93 [0.16] mL 0.1N HCl) to about 7 times the basal secretion (0.14 [0.05]; p < 0.005). The increase in acid secretion by the other spices was as follows: fennel 0.42 (0.11) mL 0.1 N HCl from basal secretion (0.12 [0.03]) (p < 0.02); omum 0.33 (0.05) from 0.09 (0.02) (p < 0.01); cardamom 0.28 (0.04) from 0.10 (0.03) (p < 0.005); black pepper 0.19 (0.03) from 0.04 (0.01) (p < 0.005); cumin 0.12 (0.02) from 0.08 (0.01) (p < 0.05); coriander 0.18 (0.03) from 0.09 (0.02) (p < 0.005). Atropine abolished the acid secretion induced by acetylcholine and significantly reduced acid induction by red pepper, omum and coriander, but not that by fennel. In experiments with aspirin-induced mucosal injury the basal acid secretion was low; acid secretion by red pepper and fennel was reduced significantly, but not that by acetylcholine. Cumin and coriander increased acid secretion in injured stomachs. CONCLUSION: The spices tested increased gastric acid secretion, in some by a cholinergic mechanism but by other mechanism(s) as well. Red pepper produced maximum increase in acid secretion, but this was significantly reduced in injured stomachs. Cumin and coriander increased gastric secretion in injured stomachs.

Use of rat jejunum for assay of acetylcholine.

Experiments were carried out to determine the advantage in using isolated rat jejunum in the assay of acetylcholine (ACh) in preference to other tissues. Rat jejunum was found to be sensitive to ACh 0.01 micrograms, 5-hydroxytryptamine (5HT) 0.2 to 0.5 microgram and least sensitive to histamine. (Ach greater than 5HT greater than histamine).

Effects of cholinomimetic drugs and their antagonists injected into vertebral artery of unanaesthetized dogs.

In unanaesthetized dogs, cholinomimetic drugs and their antagonists, catecholamines and 5HT were injected into vertebral artery placed in a skin loop. Acetylcholine (1 mg), pilocarpine (1-2 mg), nicotine (250-500 microng), eserine (100 microng) and neostigmine (250 microng) produced sleep apart from a few other peripheral effects. Sleep for longer periods followed injections of tubocurarine (1 mg), atropine (50 microng) and hexamethonium (500 microng). Adrenaline (50 microng) and noradrenaline (50-250 microng) did not produce significant effects on behaviour and sleep. 5HT (250-500 microng) also caused sleep.

Sleep induced by drugs injected into the inferior horn of the lateral cerebral ventricle in dogs.

1 In unanaesthetized dogs, cholinomimetic drugs and their antagonists were injected into the inferior horn of the left lateral cerebral ventricle. Injection volumes of 5 mul were used to limit spread of the drugs beyond the inferior horn. The effects on EEG and behaviour were recorded and compared with the effects of the same doses given into the body of the right lateral ventricle a little behind the foramen on Monro. 2 injections of cholinomimetic drugs into the inferior horn (acetylcholine 1-2 mug, physostigmine 1.0 mug, pilocarpine 100 mug and nicotine 10 mug) induced sleep during the following hour. The same doses injected into the body of the lateral ventricle did not produce sleep. 3 Cholinolytic drugs (atropine 10-20 mug, hyoscine 0.4-1.6 mug (+/-)-tubocuraine 10-20 ng and hexamethonium 40 mug) injected into the inferior horn also produced sleep, but the same doses injected into the body of the lateral ventricle were without effect. The EEG recorded after tubocurarine showed high voltage slow waves during sleep and desynchronized activation during rapid eye movement sleep. 4 Noradrenaline (10 mug) injected into the inferior horn produced sleep whereas the same dose given into the body of lateral ventricle did not produce sleep. The results with 5-hydroxytryptamine were equivocal. 5 It is suggested that the site for induction of sleep lies in structures lining the inferior horn of the lateral cerebral ventricle and that the cholinomimetic drugs probably act by a depolarizing block and the acetlycholine antagonists by a competitive block.