HYPOGLYCÆMIC SHOCK AND THE GRASP-REFLEX: THE EFFECT OF INSULIN SHOCK ON BULBOCAPNINE CATALEPSY IN MONKEYS.

IN a previous communication (Kennedy, 1939) an account has been given of the effects of cardiazol convulsions, such as are used in the treatment of clinical catatonic states, upon the catalepsy-like condition seen in bulbocapnine intoxication in monkeys. A study was made of the effects of convulsions on the grasp-reflex which is invariably present with this state in the bulbocapninized monkey, the intensity of the response being measured by the hanging-time method of Richter (1931). It was shown that the effect of the convulsions was to increase very considerably the cataleptic component of the state produced by bulbocapnine in much the same way as does the inhalation of a high concentration of carbon dioxide (Paterson and Richter, 1932), and that the period during which the grasp-reflex was present was greatly prolonged, though the convulsions alone produced only a transient hanging-response. The purpose of the work to be described was to compare these effects of the induced convulsion with those of hypoglycemic shock. The first object, therefore, was to reproduce in monkeys a condition as nearly as possible resembling therapeutic insulin shock and to determine its effect on motility and upon the grasp-reflex. Having thus standardized the effects of insulin on each animal used, it was then possible to investigate the effects of the hypoglycxmic state on the catalepsy and grasp-reflex phenomena produced by bulbocapnine.