From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	Arecoline is part of WikiProject Pharmacology, a project to improve all Pharmacology-related articles. If you would like to help improve this and other pharmacology articles, please join the project. All interested editors are welcome.
Stub	This article has been rated as stub-Class on the quality scale.

[edit] Parasympathetic effects

I'm confused. A stimulant effect is usually a sympathetic effect, increasing heart rate, not a parasympathetic effect. Does anyone more familiar with Arecoline have anything to back up this statement?

According to the book: Medical Pharmacology at a Glance - Fifth Edition (M. J. Neal): Muscarinic effects are mainly parasympathomimetic (except sweating and vasodilation), and in general are the opposite of those caused by sympathetic stimulation. Muscarinic effects include: constriction of the pupil, accomodation for near vision, profuse watery salivation, bronchiolar constriction, bronchosecretion, hypotension, an increase in gastrointestinal motility and secrection contraction of the urinary bladder and sweating.

As I have used arecoline before, I can definitely confirm that it causes "constriction of the pupil", and I also noticed "profuse watery salivation", along with "bronchiolar constriction". The others i'm not sure about as I wasn't really analyzing.

My conclusion is that arecoline is a parasympathomimetic, rather than a sympathomimetic. Mark PEA 22:54, 12 August 2006 (UTC)Mark PEA