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A study of some pharmacological properties of certain alpha-glyceryl ethers. Klier, Gail Dianne Bellward

Abstract

The alpha-glyceryl ethers (AGE) are widely distributed in nature, occurring in many marine organisms, land animals, plants, and humans. A series of preliminary experiments was begun to determine whether these compounds possessed possible pharmacological actions against inflammation. Anti-inflammatory tests utilized both the granuloma pouch and cotton pellet granulation methods. Possible glucocorticoid activity was checked by measuring liver glycogen deposition. The effects of AGE on growth and weight of the animals was also noted. Neither selachyl dihemisuccinate sodium (selachyl DHSS) nor selachyl alcohol decreased the exudate formation in the granuloma pouch experiments, although excellent results were obtained with hydrocortisone. The high dose of the AGE was the equivalent of ten milligrams; low doses were three hundred and six hundred micrograms. Routes of administration used were oral, intraperitoneal, and subcutaneous. In the cotton pellet granuloma test, some indication of anti-inflammatory activity was obtained, in accordance with previous results in this and other laboratories. Selachyl DHSS decreased granulation tissue formation by only 11.7% in growing rats, which is not significant; however, in mature rats, there was a decrease of 29.5%. The dosage used in this series was 30 milligrams per kilogram daily by the subcutaneous route, A definite and comparatively large increase in liver glycogen deposition was observed in rats allowed to eat freely, when given selachyl DHSS subcutaneously. These glycogen values were decreased radically by a paired feeding study in which the treated rats were allowed to eat only the same amount of food as their paired control animal. Thus food intake appears to be one of the factors responsible for the increased glycogen storage. The AGE appear to affect growth only by the Intraperitoneal route of administration. In this case, the growth of rats was retarded by 29.6%. It was also noted that these animals ate somewhat less food than the controls, although this did not appear to be an important enough difference to account for the lack of weight gain. Throughout these experiments one of the most notable observations was a lack of uniformity of the results. Factors which appeared to cause a variability in the outcome of tests included the age of the animals, length of time of preoperative housing in new quarters, route of administration, and dosage. A non-linear relationship between dose and effect appears probable.

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