RESUMO
1. The use of the Stroop Color-Word Test as a model of experimentally induced anxiety was evaluated. 2. First, the authors examined the influence of trait anxiety and the type of instructions on the anxiety state level. Subjects with high trait anxiety (above 50 on State-Trait Anxiety Scale--STAI) showed a significant increase in anxiety state only with limited time (2 minutes) and error signal (with a ringing bell) procedures. This increase was blocked by diazepam (DZP) 5.0 mg p.o. both on pre- and post-test measures, but it was not changed by placebo administration. 3. The public performance simulation (with a video-camera) was effective to raise the anxiety state on normal volunteers with mean trait anxiety (between 30 and 50 on STAI). This raise was prevented with diazepam 5.0 mg p.o. but it was not prevented with placebo administration. 4. As a whole, these data suggest that the Video-recorded Stroop Color-Word Test is an effective anxiety provoking test, able to detect the effect of standard anxiolytic drug and stressed the importance of trait anxiety level and the instructions on tests that induced anxiety experimentally.
Assuntos
Ansiedade/psicologia , Percepção de Cores/fisiologia , Testes Neuropsicológicos , Adolescente , Adulto , Ansiolíticos/farmacologia , Ansiedade/tratamento farmacológico , Diazepam/farmacologia , Método Duplo-Cego , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Modelos Psicológicos , Meio SocialRESUMO
Valeriana officinalis L. (Valerianaceae) is widely known to be associated with sedative properties. The effects of a valepotriates mixtures on mothers and progeny were evaluated in rats. A 30-day administration of valepotriates did not change the average length of estral cycle, nor the number of estrous phases during this period. Also, there were no changes on the fertility index. Fetotoxicity and external examination studies did not show differences, although internal examination revealed an increase in number of retarded ossification after the highest doses employed--12 and 24 mg/kg. No changes were detected in the development of the offspring after treatment during pregnancy. As for temperature, valepotriates caused a hypothermizant effect after administration by the intraperitoneal route but not after oral administration. Generally, the valepotriates employed induced some alterations after administration by the intraperitoneal route, but doses given orally were innocuous to pregnant rats and their offspring.
Assuntos
Desenvolvimento Embrionário e Fetal/efeitos dos fármacos , Estro/efeitos dos fármacos , Iridoides , Extratos Vegetais/toxicidade , Psicotrópicos/toxicidade , Piranos/toxicidade , Administração Oral , Animais , Comportamento Animal/efeitos dos fármacos , Temperatura Corporal/efeitos dos fármacos , Feminino , Fertilidade/efeitos dos fármacos , Injeções Intraperitoneais , Troca Materno-Fetal , Extratos Vegetais/administração & dosagem , Gravidez , Psicotrópicos/administração & dosagem , Piranos/administração & dosagem , Ratos , Ratos WistarRESUMO
Sodium diclofenac inhibits hyperthermia induced by paradoxical sleep deprivation (PSD), which suggests the participation of prostaglandins. The temperature of paradoxical sleep-deprived rats increased from the first to the fourth day of deprivation. This hyperthermia was blocked on the second, third, and fourth days by daily administration, twice a day, of 10 mg/kg of sodium diclofenac, a potent prostaglandin synthesis inhibitor. In the dose of 10 mg/kg, a decrease of temperature was observed only on the second and third days of PSD. These data suggest the participation of prostaglandins in modulating the increase in temperature during PSD.
Assuntos
Regulação da Temperatura Corporal/efeitos dos fármacos , Diclofenaco/farmacologia , Prostaglandinas/fisiologia , Privação do Sono/fisiologia , Sono REM/efeitos dos fármacos , Animais , Regulação da Temperatura Corporal/fisiologia , Interleucina-1/fisiologia , Ratos , Sono REM/fisiologiaRESUMO
A herbal tea (called an abafado in Brazil) prepared from the dried leaves of lemongrass was administered to healthy volunteers. Following a single dose or 2 weeks of daily oral administration, the abafado produced no changes in serum glucose, urea, creatinine, cholesterol, triglycerides, lipids, total bilirubin, indirect bilirubin, GOT, GPT, alkaline phosphatase, total protein, albumin, LDH and CPK. Urine analysis (proteins, glucose, ketones, bilirubins, occult blood and urobilinogen) as well as EEG and EKG showed no abnormalities. There were slight elevations of direct bilirubin and of amylase in some of the volunteers, but without any clinical manifestation. These results taken together indicate that lemongrass as used in Brazilian folk medicine is not toxic for humans. The eventual hypnotic effect of lemongrass was investigated in 50 volunteers who ingested samples of lemongrass and a placebo under double-blind conditions. The parameters (i.e. sleep induction, sleep quality, dream recall and rewakening) did not show any effect of lemongrass as compared to the placebo. Eighteen subjects with high scores of trait-anxiety were submitted to an anxiety-inducing test following taking lemongrass or placebo under double-blind conditions. Their anxiety levels were similar, indicating that the abafado of the plant does not have anxiolytic properties. It is concluded that lemongrass, one of the most popular Brazilian herbal medicines, used for its alleged CNS-depressant effects, is atoxic but lacks hypnotic or anxiolytic properties.