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Several compounds which represent classifications of drugs known to have effects on muscular efficiency were administered to dystrophic animals in which atrophy was achieved utilizing a vitamin E-deficient diet. A myopathic mutation of the house mouse (dystrophia muscularis) was also utilized in certain portions of the study. Motor coordination, weight, muscle strength, and urinary creatine and creatinine were measured. The effects of some of the compounds on the isolated diaphragm muscle of normal and dystrophic mice were also studied. Norethandrolone, methimazole, and digoxin increased the ability of vitamin E-deficient rats to perform forced motor activity. The same compounds increased the offspring survival rate of vitamin E-deficient female rats. Potassium chloride (10 mg./Kg./day) temporarily increased the mean rotarod performance time and arrested loss of weight of dystrophic mice. Although there was no statistical difference between the life span of the control and drug-treated groups of strain-129 mice, the group receiving digoxin, 0.05 mg./Kg. subcutaneously, twice a week survived the longest.

Aqueous extracts of Piper methysticumForst, were tested for pharmacological activity. The roots of this plant have been used by the natives of many of the islands of the South Pacific in a beverage known as Kava to allay anxiety and reduce fatigue. The extracts were shown to have a depressant action on the central nervous system, evidenced by depression of spontaneous motor activity, marked reduction in irritability of rats having bilateral septal lesions, inhibition of the conditioned avoidance response in rats, and blockade of EEG arousal patterns in cats.