The pharmacology of ambenoxan (2-(3',6'-dioxaheptyl)-aminomethyl-1:4-benzodioxane), a centrally acting muscle relaxant.

1. The intravenous, subcutaneous and oral toxicity of ambenoxan in mice is reported.2. Ambenoxan is a centrally acting skeletal muscle relaxant shown to be effective in mice, rats, rabbits, dogs and monkeys without loss of the righting reflex.3. It had no peripheral neuromuscular blocking properties.4. Decerebrate rigidity was depressed or abolished in the rabbit.5. The effects of strychnine, leptazol, or tremorine were not antagonized.6. In common with other depressants of the central nervous system, ambenoxan prolonged the sleeping time of hexobarbitone.7. Ambenoxan had no local anaesthetic properties.8. In the anaesthetized cat the drug lowered the blood pressure and reduced the pressor response to adrenaline but not to noradrenaline.