摘要:

The effects of a single or repeated treatment with electroconvulsive shock (ECS) or imipramine on the central serotonin (5-HT) uptake binding sites were studied in the rat frontal cortex and hippocampus. The selective 5-HT uptake inhibitor citalopram and clomipramine potently inhibited the binding for [3H]paroxetine (5-HT uptake binding sites) in the frontal cortex. The antidepressant drugs imipramine and desipramine inhibited the binding moderately, but the 5-HT-related agents, 5-HT, 8-hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino)tetralin (8-OH-DPAT), mianserin and ketanserin inhibited it weakly. A single ECS increased the density of [3H]paroxetine binding sites, but did not alter the affinity, after 1 or 24 h, in the frontal cortex. Repeated treatment with ECS, but not with imipramine, increased the density of [3H]paroxetine binding sites in the same region. The hippocampal [3H]paroxetine binding did not change after any of these treatments. These results suggest that a single treatment with ECS causes a rapid increase in the neuronal 5-HT transporter complex and the increase lasts for 14 days in the frontal cortex.

ISSN:0302-282X    

DOI:10.1159/000119164

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1995

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

There is evidence that serotonin and norepinephrine are in some way involved in the pathophysiology of anxiety disorders. Urinary levels of the serotonin metabolite 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) and the norepinephrine metabolite vanillylmandelic acid (VMA) were measured in 46 patients with generalized anxiety disorder. There was a significant association between urinary levels of 5-HIAA and VMA: r = 0.79; p = 0.0001. Possible implications of this finding are discussed.

ISSN:0302-282X    

DOI:10.1159/000119165

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1995

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

Recently, it has been shown that higher plasma serine concentrations are a possible biological marker for psychoses including schizophrenia. The present study was carried out in order to investigate plasma serine levels in 123 depressed subjects (41 minor; 47 simple major; 35 melancholic depressives) and 50 normal controls. It was found that plasma serine concentrations were significantly higher in depressed subjects than in normal controls. There were no significant correlations between plasma serine and postdexamethasone cortisol values. Dexamethasone administration had a significant suppressive effect on plasma serine levels in depression but not in normal controls. In the latter – but not in depressed subjects – there were significant positive correlations between plasma serine and L-tryptophan concentrati

ISSN:0302-282X    

DOI:10.1159/000119166

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1995

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

Event-related desynchronization and visual orientational behavior were examined in 2 autistic boys to determine if blockade of endogenous opioid activity facilitates cognitive processing at a cortical level. Before naltrexone, the boys showed no selective alpha blocking during exposure to either mother’s pictures or white light. Unlike normals, they exhibited strong alpha band enhancement at temporocentral recording sites. Two hours after administering 0.5 mg/kg naltrexone, mother- as well as light-related alpha blocking appeared at occipital, occipitotemporal, and prefrontal sites. These effects were gone 24 h after dosing in one child, but persisted in the other. A parallel increase in visual pursuit in a social context was observed. These results affirm that autistic gaze aversion can be caused by excessive opioid activity interfering with corticothalamocortical processing of visual stimul

ISSN:0302-282X    

DOI:10.1159/000119167

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1995

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

The correlation between the degree of psychopathology (assessed by the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, MMPI) and sympathetic function (assessed by the skin potential response to somatosensory stimuli) was evaluated in 209 patients with affective disorders. A number of skin potential parameters (skin potential levels, negative fluctuations of first derivative of skin potential, negative areas in phase plane analysis, differences between last and initial average potentials and between the last average potential for the preceding stimulus and initial average potentials for a given stimulus) were correlated with the psychopathology index, calculated as the average of clinically relevant MMPI scales. Categorical classification of patients having or not having abnormally high psychopathology index scores also supported the differences in skin potential response between both groups of patients. The results further indicate the existence of a correlation between severity of mood disorders and increased sympathetic reactivity.

ISSN:0302-282X    

DOI:10.1159/000119168

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1995

数据来源: Karger

ISSN:0302-282X    

DOI:10.1159/000119169

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1995

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

Quantitative EEG is a sensitive method for measuring pharmacological effects on the central nervous system. Nowadays, computers enable EEG data to be stored and spectral parameters to be computed for signals obtained from a large number of electrode locations. However, the statistical analysis of such vast amounts of EEG data is complicated due to the limited number of subjects usually involved in pharmacological studies. In the present study, data from a trial aimed at comparing diazepam and placebo were used to investigate different properties of EEG mapping data and to compare different methods of data analysis. Both the topography and the temporal changes of EEG activity were investigated using descriptive data analysis, which is based on an inspection of patterns of Pd values (descriptive p values) assessed for all pair-wise tests for differences in time or treatment. An empirical measure (trimean) for the computation of group maps is suggested, allowing a better description of group effects with skewed data of small samples size. Finally, both the investigation of maps based on principal component analysis and the notion of distance between maps are discussed and applied to the analysis of the data collected under diazepam treatment, exemplifying the evaluation of pharmacodynamic drug effects.

ISSN:0302-282X    

DOI:10.1159/000119170

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1995

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

In contrast to the single-channel dimensional complexity, the global dimensional complexity is calculated from a multichannel EEG. The intention with the method is to measure the spatial distribution of information processing in the brain. The method seems to be of interest in psychopharmacological research, but the interpretation of the results in physiological terms is rather difficult. To get a more detailed information on the physiological significance of the EEG complexity measures, the influence of well-known physiological factors was studied in a group of 14 healthy subjects aged from 1.5 to 61 years. It was found that the correlation dimension was somewhat higher in older individuals, but the correlation with age was not statistically significant. However, the global correlation dimension was significantly lower during full alertness than during drowsiness. These results might reflect the changes in spatial structure of information processing, a high complexity suggesting a ‘disorganisation’ during drowsiness. As regards the age-dependent changes of the correlation dimension, the spatial ‘flexibility’ of information processing was also studied, using the differences between the ‘alert’ and ‘drowsy’ parts of the same EEG as indicator. It was found that the differences ‘drowsy minus alert’ were significantly related to age. A plausible interpretation seems to be that the spatial distribution of information processing is more changeable, or more flexible, in adul

ISSN:0302-282X    

DOI:10.1159/000119171

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1995

数据来源: Karger