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Actions of Benzedrine and Propadrine in the Control of Obesity¹

One Figure

Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics Stanford University School of Medicine, San Francisco, California

1. Benzedrine and propadrine cause a loss of body weight in white rats in a manner comparable to that reported for patients.

2. Energy output changes as measured in revolving cages do not explain the decreases in body weight observed. Direct calculation of the energy metabolism from oxygen use in both acute and prolonged experiments showed that, while benzedrine increased the oxygen consumption for about 6 hours after subcutaneous injection, it did not change the total oxygen used in 24 hours unless the doses approached the fatal. Subcutaneous injections of propadrine did not change the metabolism even temporarily.

3. Both benzedrine and propadrine slowed the rate of passage of food through the gastrointestinal tract. This was not a direct local action on the intestine before systemic distribution since the same effects were obtained after subcutaneous injection of smaller doses. The slower passage through the gut apparently did not modify appreciably the digestion or assimilation of food, since it produced no change in the dry weight of the stools.

4. In paired feeding experiments, medicated rats lost more weight than could be accounted for by decreases in food intake. These rats, however, ingested such a high dosage of the drugs as to bring them into the range where metabolic stimulation probably resulted. There was also the possibility of decreased energy utilization of the unmedicated control rats because of restricted food intake.

5. The food intake was markedly impaired by these drugs, especially during the first few days of medication when the weight changes were greatest. The decreased food intake was sufficient to explain the loss in body weight on the assumption that the energy of the food deficit was being made up mainly by burning body fat, or in some experiments by additional carbohydrate or protein, or by possible concomitant minor shifts in water balance.

6. The main result applicable to the clinical effects in obesity was this diminished food intake. It is noteworthy that a tolerance to the appetite effect of the drugs quickly developed, so that food consumption returned to normal after about a week.

These results indicated that benzedrine and propadrine might be of greatest value in those cases of obesity where control of the appetite was the most pressing need, and where the dosage could be kept low and duration of medication short to minimize the development of tolerance. Propadrine was weaker than benzedrine, but since it lacked the unpleasant central excitant effects of the latter, might well be used first in those patients where this type of treatment is desired. These results, taken as a whole, indicate that benzedrine or propadrine can probably serve only as an adjuvant to the already well recognized and commonly employed measures in controlling obesity.

Manuscript received 27 July 1943.