Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0004134 (ataxia)
 15,886 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

This review attempts to summarize the literature on the effects of drugs on isolation-induced aggression in mice. In spite of the fact that each investigator that was surveyed utilized different methodologies (e.g., induction techniques, testing conditions, scoring systems), the results from the various laboratories are generally in agreement in many respects. Fighting in isolated mice has been shown to be selectively antagnoized (i.e., antifighting activity at doses significantly below doses producing neurological impairment in isolated mice) by antidepressants, neuroleptics, anticholinergics, antiserotonergics, and antihistamines; however, aggression was nonselectively antagonized by anxiolytics, muscle relaxants, anticonvulsants, sedatives, and hypnotics. Emphasis is placed on the necessity to determine pharmacological selectivity whenever antagonistic effects are observed; this can only be accomplished by measuring neurological impairment (ataxia) in the isolated mice by utilizing a test such as an inclined-screen, preferably immediately following aggression testing. Since isolated mice have been shown to exhibit marked differences in drug sensitivities and in metabolic dispositions of many classes of drugs as compared to group-housed controls, statements concerning drug selectivity or specificity are meaningless without some evidence for a lack of neurological impairment in isolated, aggressive mice.
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PMID:The pharmacology of isolation-induced aggressive behavior in mice. 3 10

Lithium was found to be a selective (i.e., it antagonized aggression at doses that did not produce concurrent neuromuscular impairment) antagonist of isolation-induced aggressive behavior in mice following repeated (subacute) administration for five days. Acute (single dose) administration of lithium failed to inhibit aggression. At atiaggressive doses, lithium did not produce ataxia as measured by the inclined-screen or rotarod procedures. The mechanism of this action is discussed in terms of a possible influence on serotonergic mechanisms.
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PMID:Inhibition of fighting in isolated mice following repeated administration of lithium chloride. 56 35

Twenty-two adult patients with uncontrolled epilepsy and severe learning difficulties were included in an open study of vigabatrin. Patients were all in residential care and had experienced at least 12 seizures during the previous 12 months despite all attempts to optimize antiepileptic drug (AED) treatment. Following a 4 month baseline period, vigabatrin 500 mg twice daily was added to the current AED treatment and the dose increased according to response, up to a maximum of 4 g/day. Ten patients achieved a reduction in seizure frequency of more than 50% during this 4 month dose titration phase. Two patients had no seizures during the baseline period. For the 30 patients with seizures during the baseline period the median improvement in seizure frequency with the addition of vigabatrin was 49% (P = 0.014). The response rate was higher for patients with partial seizures than for those with generalized seizures. Ten patients continued with vigabatrin while the dose of one of their other AEDs was gradually reduced and successfully withdrawn in three patients. Adverse events were reported in 20 patients during the 64 week study period. The most frequently reported events were sedation (8 patients), aggression (4 patients), agitation (3 patients) and ataxia (3 patients). No patients were withdrawn from the study as a consequence of adverse events. Vigabatrin was therefore an effective add-on therapy in 45% of these difficult-to-treat patients and allowed reduction of other AED treatment in a small number.
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PMID:Vigabatrin in adults with poorly-controlled epilepsy and learning disabilities. 134 60

Seventeen percent of 196 feral vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) spontaneously drank appreciable quantities of beverage alcohol in 3% sucrose in preference to 3% sucrose alone. Ethanol consumption increased over time, as did the concentration of ethanol tolerated. Willingness to select ethanol was stable over a three-year period, as measured by periodic retesting. Individual patterns of drinking and behavioral responses to ethanol were quite variable. Upon occasion, some animals drank to ataxia and unconsciousness; signs of withdrawal, including tremulousness, pacing, irritability and increased aggression, followed the abrupt discontinuation of ethanol availability. A variety of changes in social interaction, including increased orientation to external stimulus, increased incidence of stereotyped aggression and of other stereotyped behaviors and decreased frequency of affiliative behaviors were observed during ethanol periods, as compared to baseline scoring periods. In a small number of alcohol-preferring animals, CSF amine metabolites (5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid and homovanillic acid) were raised by drinking alcohol. These studies suggest that the alcohol-selecting vervet monkey may be complementary to established primate models of alcoholism.
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PMID:Voluntary consumption of beverage alcohol by vervet monkeys: population screening, descriptive behavior and biochemical measures. 235 9

Gepirone (BMY 13805), a buspirone analog, was used to determine the antianxiety mechanism of the arylpiperazine class of drugs. Because of the weak effects of these drugs on conflict behavior, isolation-induced aggressive mice were used as the antianxiety model. Gepirone, like buspirone, potently inhibited attacks against group housed intruder mice (ED50 = 4.5 mg/kg i.p.) without causing sedation or ataxia. Inhibition of aggression was potentiated by co-administration of 0.25 mg/kg methiothepin or 2.5 mg/kg methysergide. Gepirone had variable effects on dopamine metabolism and reduced 5-hydroxytryptamine (5HT) metabolism about one third after a dose of 2.5 mg/kg. In contrast to buspirone, which markedly increased dopaminergic impulse flow, gepirone inhibited the firing of most cells recorded from the substantia nigra zona compacta in doses of 2.3-10 mg/kg i.v. and the effects were reversible by administration of haloperidol. The common metabolite of buspirone and gepirone, 1-(2-pyrimidinyl)-piperazine, caused increased firing rates only. Gepirone potently inhibited serotonergic impulse flow recorded from the dorsal raphe nucleus (88.3% after 0.04 mg/kg) and this effect was partially reversed by serotonergic antagonists. Both buspirone and gepirone displaced [3H]-5HT from the 5HT1a binding site in the hippocampus with IC50 values of 10 and 58 nM, respectively. Non-alkyl substituted aryl-piperazines displaced [3H]-5HT from both 5HT1a and 5HT1b binding sites. Thus, although gepirone may be a weak postsynaptic 5HT agonist, its primary effect is to decrease 5HT neurotransmission. In support of this conclusion was the observed potentiation of antiaggressive effects by blocking 5HT receptors wit small doses of methiothepin or methysergide, which would exacerbate the decreased release of 5HT caused by gepirone. These results are in harmony with reports that decreased serotonergic activity has anxiolytic-like effects in animal models of anxiety.
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PMID:Effects of gepirone, an aryl-piperazine anxiolytic drug, on aggressive behavior and brain monoaminergic neurotransmission. 243 24

The effects of eight neuroleptic drugs injected into the cerebral ventricles on behavior, autonomic and motor activity of unanesthetized cats have been studied. Chlorpromazine, trifluorpromazine, droperidol, haloperidol, domperidone and spiperone induced emotional behavior (restlessness, miaowing, rage, attack, defense, fighting with paws, biting), autonomic (mydriasis, tachypnoea, dyspnoea, panting, salivation, defecation, urination, licking, vomiting) and motor (ataxia, muscular weakness, adynamia) phenomena. The main and the most consistent effect was the motor impairment, while the aggression was inconsistent and of moderate intensity. Of the neuroleptic drugs injected, only spiperone, domperidone and trifluorpromazine produced a dose-dependent motor impairment. The autonomic effects were also inconsistent and of low intensity. Metoclopramide induced inconsistent autonomic and motor effects, while sulpiride was devoid of any visible behavioral, autonomic and motor activity. It appears, therefore, that the motor impairment as well as the aggression caused by the neuroleptic drugs is perhaps related to central D-1 rather than to central D-2 dopamine receptors, but an effect on central norepinephrine and on central serotonin receptors cannot be excluded.
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PMID:Behavioral, autonomic and motor effects of neuroleptic drugs in cats: motor impairment and aggression. 286 89

Progressive myoclonus epilepsy (PME) without Lafora bodies, or Baltic myoclonus epilepsy, is characterized by stimulus-sensitive myoclonus, generalized tonic-clonic seizures, and an irregularly progressive course beginning between 6 and 15 years of age. The EEG displays spike-and-wave paroxysms with irregular dominant activity. Baltic myoclonus epilepsy is a single-gene disorder inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern. Early cases were reported from Estonia, and many are now found in Finland, suggesting that the gene frequency is increased in those sharing the Finno-Ugric linguistic base. The use of phenytoin should be avoided in this disorder since its continued administration alone or with other antiepileptic drugs is associated with intellectual and motor deterioration, aggressive behavior, increasing ataxia, and even death. Treatment with valproate and the concomitant elimination of phenytoin have been associated with marked improvement in most cases. Baltic myoclonus epilepsy must be distinguished from Lafora body PME, which is relentlessly progressive and invariably fatal, but can usually be differentiated on clinical grounds.
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PMID:Effect of phenytoin on the mental and physical function of patients with Baltic myoclonus epilepsy. 311 15

Striped skunks were inoculated intracerebrally with the scrapie agent (suspension of brain from a naturally infected Suffolk sheep) or intramuscularly with street rabies virus (suspension of salivary glands from naturally infected skunks). Those given the scrapie agent developed clinical signs of weakness, posterior ataxia, and emaciation after incubated periods of 8 to 23 months. Those inoculated with rabies virus developed clinical signs of rabies (aggressive behavior, hyperexcitability, ataxia and paralysis) after incubation periods of 20 to 62 days. The gross lesions in the brains of the skunks given the scrapie agent consisted of marked atrophy of the thalamus and moderate atrophy of the cerebrum. No gross lesions occurred in the rabid skunks. Histologically, the type of spongiform lesion in rabies was the same as that in scrapie. However, spongiform change of rabies infected brains was less extensive (only rarely affected the basal ganglia, hippocampus or hypothalamus) than that of brains infected with the scrapie agent and was characterized by fewer numbers of small vacuoles (as a proportion of total number of vacuoles) than occurred in scrapie spongiform change.
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PMID:Comparison of spongiform lesions in experimental scrapie and rabies in skunks. 321 30

In a multicenter placebo-controlled study, the safety, side effects, and patient acceptance of alprazolam for the treatment of panic disorder and agoraphobia were examined. A total of 525 patients meeting DSM-III criteria for agoraphobia with panic attacks or panic disorder were randomly assigned to receive alprazolam or placebo, which they took for eight weeks. The mean daily dose at the end of the study was 5.7 mg of alprazolam or 7.5 capsules of placebo daily. Potentially serious reactions to alprazolam occurred in ten of 263 subjects who received the drug. These included acute intoxication (three), hepatitis (two), mania (two), amnesia (one), aggressive behavior (one), and depression (one). Treatment-related side effects that were worse in patients taking alprazolam than in those taking placebo included sedation, fatigue, ataxia, slurred speech, and amnesia. Sedation was the most frequent but tended to subside with dose reduction or continued administration of the drug. Patient acceptance of alprazolam, as measured by the rate of completion for study participants, was high. Eighty-four percent of patients receiving active drug completed the study compared with 50% receiving placebo.
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PMID:Alprazolam in panic disorder and agoraphobia: results from a multicenter trial. II. Patient acceptance, side effects, and safety. 335 44

The effect on behavior of eight anticholinergic agents: atropine, scopolamine, trihexyphenidyl, biperiden, homatropine, eucatropine, hexocyclium and propantheline, injected into the cerebral ventricle (ICV) of the cat was investigated and compared. The anticholinergic agents evoked: (1) psychomotor stimulation such as miaowing, loud calling, restlessness, impelling locomotion, jumping, vacant staring, apprehension and loss of interest of the surroundings; (2) aggression, hissing, threat, attack, defense, fighting with paws and flight; (3) autonomic responses including mydriasis, tachypnea, dyspnea, licking, vomiting, salivation, micturition and defection; and (4) motor phenomena comprising scratching, ataxia, rigidity, tremor, weakness with adynamia or myoclonic jerks. Convulsions appeared only after ICV injections of atropine and homatropine. The most characteristic behavioral effect of anticholinergic agents was psychomotor stimulation accompanied by mild aggressive responses. The only exception was propantheline which caused a muscular weakness and adynamia. Atropine and scopolamine alone induced a dose-dependent impelling locomotion as well as fighting behavior. Carbachol and eserine injected intracerebroventricularly reversed the locomotion autonomic and motor phenomena produced by anticholinergic agents administered similarly. It is suggested that anticholinergic agents acting as partial agonists, can produce their behavioral effects through central cholinoceptive sites.
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PMID:Comparative behavioral effects of anticholinergic agents in cats: psychomotor stimulation and aggression. 370 93


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