Abstract
The central stimulatory actions of atropine causing excitement, tremors and hallucinations in high doses are well known. Giarman and Pepeu (1) showed that atropine and hyoscine reduced the total acetylcholine content of brain. Further it has been suggested that among certain cholinolytic hallucinogens (like atropine and hyoscine), the psychotomimetic activity may be linked with an alteration in the total acetylcholine level of brain (2, 3). It is also known that rabbits are resistant to the central psychotomimetic actions of atropine which are commonly seen in man and other experimental animals with high doses of these drugs. It was therefore considered worthwhile to examine the effect of atropine and hyoscine on the acetylcholine content of different parts of rabbit brain.
