Effect of calcium chloride on gross behavioural changes produced by carbachol and eserine in cats

The effect of calcium chloride injected into the cerebral ventricles of group-housed unanaesthetized cats upon vocalization (rage, hissing and snarling), fighting (attack with paws and claws, defense with paws and claws and biting), mydriasis, tremor and clonic-tonic convulsions produced by carbachol and eserine injected similarly was investigated. Calcium chloride depressed or almost completely abolished the vocalization and fighting due to carbachol and eserine. On the other hand, mydriasis, tremor and clonic-tonic convulsions evoked by carbachol and eserine were not significantly changed by calcium chloride. It is apparent that calcium chloride can "dissociate" vocalization and fighting from autonomic and motor phenomena such as mydriasis, tremor and clonic-tonic convulsions caused by carbachol and eserine. Calcium chloride inhibited the vocalization and fighting produced by carbachol and eserine most probably by a nonspecific stabilizing action on central muscarinic cholinoceptive sites. These results further support the view that calcium ions in excess have an atropine-like action also in the central nervous system.