The initial transient stimulating action of neuromuscular blocking agents in the cat.

AN initial transient increase in the size of the muscle twitch before the onset of paralysis has been described as characteristic following the intravenous injection of a depolarizing neuromuscular blocking agent. During several series of experiments undertaken in the study of different aspects of neuromuscular block this typical response was confirmed, but it was also noted that occasionally a similar brief stimulant effect followed the intravenous injection of competitive blocking agents. The observation was sufficiently interesting to justify an examination of all records in an attempt to explain this rather unexpected finding