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The concept of combined anaesthesia, the centrally-acting muscle relaxant guaifenesin (My 301) in a 5% solution with ketamine (and/or fentanyl) in addition to the inhalation of nitrous oxide and halothane is based upon the principle of "balanced anaesthesia". Guaifenesin amplifies the effect of several anaesthetics, which complement one another, allowing the dosage to be decreased and thereby reducing the cardiovascular stress. To induce anaesthesia, the combination of a cataleptic anaesthetic (ketamine = Ketanest, Ketolar) and a centrally acting skeletal muscle relaxant (guaifenesin = Myolaxin, My 301) is used. Because of the risk of aspiration the animal should be intubated as soon as possible. Anaesthesia will be prolonged by the carrier gas nitrous oxide (65%, weakly analgesic)/oxygen (65%), low concentrations of halothane (1.0 to 0.6 to 0.4%, weakly hypnotic and analgesic) and by a continuous drip infusion of 5% guaifenesin (relaxing, mild analgesic and sedative). The effect of all the other anaesthetics is increased by guaifenesin. To increase the analgesia and to control the cardiovascular parameters the additional injection of ketamine or fentanyl is recommended. The recovery period is short and the general condition is good both after a lengthy anaesthesia of 9 hours (n = 32) and after anaesthesia of 2 hours. No significant adverse effects on the cardiovascular system were detected.

Xylazine and Ketamine were used for anaesthesia in 250 adult horses. This combination is useful both for induction and maintenance of anaesthesia. The induction with Xylazine and Ketamine has been successful not only with foals but also with high risk patients such as horses with colic. During the maintenance of anaesthesia Xylazine/Ketamine can be used with injectable anaesthetics as well as with volatile anaesthetics at the same time. A form of injection anaesthesia for short-time surgical procedures like castration and wound repair is presented. The maintenance of a Thiobarbiturate/Guaifenesin anaesthesia with Xylazine/Ketamine seems to be suitable for field conditions.

The investigations presented were undertaken to find out whether a long-term treatment of chronic bronchitis with a combination of tetracycline, theophylline, doxylamine succinate, etafedrine, phenylephrine and guaifenesine could reduce the frequency of recurrent infections of the respiratory system. Out of 57 patients who all had suffered from at least one exacerbation in the year preceding the trial only 12 showed clinical signs of an ixacerbation during the study. 12 exacerbations occurred during the placebo phase, 6 during the treatment with Ditenate Tetra. It is specified why such a long-term treatment with an antibiotic should be reserved only for patients who are especially endangered by the exacerbation. The results of numerous microbiological investigations of sputa, nose and throat swabs before and during the long-term study are interpreted under certain aspects and questioning.

The results of the implementation of Myoscain E/Holzinger in the treatment of the "pseudocroup syndrome" (laryngitis catarrhalis) are reported. The generally prompt action of the drug is stressed. It is pointed out that non-response to the compound suggests a more serious form of the disease necessitating close observation. A list of diseases involved in the differential diagnosis is added.

The paper describes the problems of injection anaesthesia in the horse. Different commonly used methods, drugs and drug combinations are explained. Their actions and side-effects are compared and discussed.

Recently the authors about toxicological investigations after uptake of guaiacol glyceryl ether containing drugs. There had been detected two intensive pink spots on the TLC from urine samples after detection with Marquis-reagent. It is reported about the identification of Catechol glyceryl ether and Hydroxyguaifenesine via Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry. Until today only the oxidation of guaiacol glyceryl ether to beta-(2-methoxyphenoxy)lactic acid is described. The demethylation of G. is performed by O-Demethylase localized in liver microsomes. This enzyme seems to be the main enzyme for the metabolism of G. It is pointed out to a pharmacologically interesting relationship between the chemical structure of guaiacol glyceryl ether and codeine.

The defenses of the lung against inhaled gases and particles include aerodynamic filtration mechanisms of the tracheobronchial tree, mechanical clearance and local detoxification. Cough, mucociliary transport, alveolo-bronchiolar fluid flow and clearance to lymph and blood participate in the mechanical excretory mechanisms whereas phagocytosis, immunologic and secretory mechanisms, and tissue reaction represent in-situ detoxification. Impaired mucociliary transport causes obstruction of the airways, the pathophysiologic hallmark of chronic nonspecific lung diseases. The clearance of diseases airways is not easy. It may be accomplished either by changing primarily the physicochemical properties of the mucus or by stimulating ciliary activity. By means of doublebind-crossover studies in patients with stable chronic nonspecific lung diseases, it is shown how drugs which presumably improve the clearance of diseased airways do affect the various physicochemical properties of the tracheobronchial mucus.

A randomized double-blind crossover study compared the clinical effectiveness of 14-day treatment with 400 mg/day of sobrerol and placebo in 23 patients with stable chronic bronchial disease. In a further open trial phase all patients received 2.0 g glyceringuaiacol per day. During the 9-week trial, subjective symptoms and findings were recorded by numerical code, side-effects listed, pulmonary function tests performed and sputum physical characteristics determined on a weekly basis. Data was statistically analyzed using an analysis of variance adapted from HILLS and ARMITAGE, the Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test, the paired t-test and the %2 test. Both subjective assessment of overall clinical efficacy and statistical analysis of the above factors failed to show any significant advantage of sobrerol over placebo. Sputum physical characteristics failed to reveal a significant difference between sobrerol and placebo, with the exception of a temporary reduction in sputum volume (p less than 0.05) on the fourth day of therapy with sobrerol. Similarly, 2.0 g glyceringuaiacol for 14 days failed to influence subjective symptoms, pulmonary function tests or sputum physical characteristics. In conclusion, sobrerol is a further example of an expectorant lacking evidence of clinical effectiveness in the management of bronchial secretions in patients with stable chronic bronchial disease.

Optimum conditions for a simultaneous determination of propyphenazone, paracetamol, guaiacol glycerol ether, caffeine and acetylsalicylic acid were described for preparations with analgesic-antipyretic activity, which don't allow a direct determination of the active principle because of interference phenomena. Using an external standard for calibration the determination was carried out by adsorption measurement (reflectance detection) in situ. Beside the determination of the drug content the method can be used to identify substances according to their RT and RF-values as well as by on-plate spectra taken.

Guaiacol Glyceryl Ether (GGE) is well known as an expectorant in a large number of cough syrups etc. More recently it was used in surgery because of its activity as a muscle relaxant and its additive effect on narcotics. Today many of the sedatives and hypnotics in the BRD, which are available without prescription, contain GGE in doses of 50 mg to 250 mg partially combined with other sedative acting substances. With regard to the abuse of sedatives and hypnotics GGE therefore will be more important in future. The analytical data of GGE (for details see key words), extraction behavior and identification of TLC combined with quantitative determination by HPLC are described.