The effects of lithium carbonate on healthy volunteers: mood stabilization?

A 2-month lithium-placebo double-blind cross-over study was carried out with 17 healthy volunteers. Their mood was self-rated: twice daily (AM, PM) with the Visual Analogue Mood Scale (VAMS); weekly with the analogue scales for subjective states and body symptoms; and three times (basal and at the end of each treatment period) with the Profile of Mood States (POMS). Memory and reaction time were also assessed, but did not show any change. The mean VAMS score decreased during lithium treatment, but the mean mood variability, a measure of the mean successive differences between consecutive mood ratings (delta squared), did not change significantly. There was a tendency toward decreased mood variability on lithium, both during the full 1-month treatment period and in the last week of treatment, when all volunteers had a lithium serum level ranging from 0.6 to 1.0 mEq/liter. The lower mean VAMS scores on lithium could be attributed to lithium-induced dysphoric mood as recorded on the analogue scales and POMS. However, very large inter- and intraindividual differences in response to lithium were observed. Actually, lithium even had an opposite effect on some volunteers' mood. The data and problems involved with assessment of mood and its changes are discussed.

Lack of agreement between the salivary flow and finger-sweat print methods for the determination of the anticholinergic effects of antidepressant drugs.

The purpose of the present study was to compare the extent of salivary flow and finger sweating after single acute oral doses of mianserin (30 mg), amitryptiline (75 mg), imipramine (75 mg) and maprotiline (75 mg) and placebo in healthy volunteers in a double-blind assay. Maprotiline and mianserin were less active in reducing salivary flow but were more active than amitryptiline and imipramine in reducing finger sweating. The lack of association between these methods for the measurement of the anticholinergic effect of antidepressant drugs is analyzed in terms of possible mechanisms for the control of palmar sweating.

Salicilemia em voluntarios sadios apos a ingestao de aspirina sob a forma de comprimidos convencionais ou tamponados. / Salicylemia in healthy volunteers after ingestion of aspirin under the conventional or buffered tablets forms

Em esquema de duplo anonimato (doubleblind), 13 voluntarios sadios ingeriram 975mg de apirina, apresentada sob 3 tipos diferentes de comprimidos: aspirina sintetizada no Brasil por laboratorio nacional sem antiacidos(aspirina NQ-comprimidos A); aspirina NQ tamponada com glicinato de aluminio e carbonato de magnesio (comprimidos B); e aspirina comercial importada, sem antiacidos (comprimidos C). Dosagens plasmaticas mostraram que o nivel de salicilato ao fim de 2 horas era identico para os 3 tipos de comprimidos e que este nivel era atingido mais rapidamente com os comprimidos tamponados (B)