Dose response of oral timolol combined with adrenaline

Oral timolol, a beta-adrenergic receptor blocker, was given in 5 different doses from 5 mg to 30 mg a day to 12 healthy volunteers in a double-blind cross-over trial. Adrenaline was instilled into one eye in each subject. Recording of intraocular pressure during the trial suggested the presence of a dose-response relationship between the dose of timolol and the decrease of intraocular pressure. An analysis of the interaction of timolol and adrenaline showed that the adrenaline effect diminished linearly with increasing timolol dose, which finally made the combination less effective than timolol alone.