Skip to main content
PMC home page
British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology logoLink to British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology
. 1983 Jan;15(1):103–107. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2125.1983.tb01471.x

Rate of entrance of benzodiazepines into the brain determined by eye movement recording.

G Tedeschi, A T Smith, S Dhillon, A Richens
PMCID: PMC1427835  PMID: 6849731

Abstract

1 Peak saccadic velocity of horizontal eye movements, saccade duration at 30 degrees of amplitude and saccade reaction time were measured in six drug free male subjects. 2 In two separate experiments, intravenous doses of diazepam (5 mg), lorazepam (2 mg), chlordiazepoxide (25 mg) and placebo were given, and eye movement recordings were made before and at frequent intervals after drug administration. 3 All the benzodiazepines produced a significant impairment of peak saccadic velocity and saccade duration. Only lorazepam significantly affected saccade reaction time. 4 Time to achieve maximum effect was 10 min after diazepam, 29 min after lorazepam and 42 min after chlordiazepoxide.

Full text

PDF
106

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Baloh R. W., Konrad H. R., Sills A. W., Honrubia V. The saccade velocity test. Neurology. 1975 Nov;25(11):1071–1076. doi: 10.1212/wnl.25.11.1071. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Baloh R. W., Sharma S., Moskowitz H., Griffith R. Effect of alcohol and marijuana on eye movements. Aviat Space Environ Med. 1979 Jan;50(1):18–23. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bittencourt P. R., Wade P., Smith A. T., Richens A. The relationship between peak velocity of saccadic eye movements and serum benzodiazepine concentration. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 1981 Oct;12(4):523–533. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2125.1981.tb01261.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bittencourt P., Wade P., Richens A., Smith T., Lloyd D., Toseland P. Blood alcohol and eye movements. Lancet. 1980 Nov 1;2(8201):981–981. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(80)92141-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bobon J., Bourdouxhe S., Breulet M., Parent M., Bobon D. P. Pilot clinical trial of parenteral lorazepam (Temesta) in anxiety states. Psychopharmacologia. 1973 Dec 20;33(4):377–384. doi: 10.1007/BF00437516. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Conner J. T., Katz R. L., Bellville J. W., Graham C., Pagano R., Dorey F. Diazepam and lorazepam for intravenous surgical premedication. J Clin Pharmacol. 1978 May-Jun;18(5-6):285–292. doi: 10.1002/j.1552-4604.1978.tb02448.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Greenblatt D. J., Shader R. I., Franke K., MacLaughlin D. S., Ransil B. J., Koch-Weser J. Kinetics of intravenous chlordiazepoxide: sex differences in drug distribution. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 1977 Dec;22(6):893–903. doi: 10.1002/cpt1977226893. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Keller E. L. Participation of medial pontine reticular formation in eye movement generation in monkey. J Neurophysiol. 1974 Mar;37(2):316–332. doi: 10.1152/jn.1974.37.2.316. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Lehtinen I., Lang A. H., Jäntti V., Keskinen E. Acute effects of alcohol on saccadic eye movements. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 1979 May 8;63(1):17–23. doi: 10.1007/BF00426915. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Ramsay R. E., Hammond E. J., Perchalski R. J., Wilder B. J. Brain uptake of phenytoin, phenobarbital, and diazepam. Arch Neurol. 1979 Sep;36(9):535–539. doi: 10.1001/archneur.1979.00500450029003. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Rothenberg S. J., Selkoe D. Specific oculomotor deficit after diazepam. I. Saccadic eye movements. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 1981;74(3):232–236. doi: 10.1007/BF00427100. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Rothenberg S., Schottenfeld S., Gross K., Selkoe D. Specific oculomotor deficit after acute methadone. I. Saccadic eye movements. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 1980;67(3):221–227. doi: 10.1007/BF00431260. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Smith A. T., Bittencourt P. R., Lloyd D. S., Richens A. An efficient technique for determining characteristics of saccadic eye movements using a mini computer. J Biomed Eng. 1981 Jan;3(1):39–43. doi: 10.1016/0141-5425(81)90103-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Solingen L. D., Baloh R. W., Myers L., Ellison G. Subclinical eye movement disorders in patients with multiple sclerosis. Neurology. 1977 Jul;27(7):614–619. doi: 10.1212/wnl.27.7.614. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Walker J. E., Homan R. W., Vasko M. R., Crawford I. L., Bell R. D., Tasker W. G. Lorazepam in status epilepticus. Ann Neurol. 1979 Sep;6(3):207–213. doi: 10.1002/ana.410060305. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Wilson J., Ellis F. R. Oral premedication with lorazepam (Ativan): a comparison with heptabarbitone (Medomin) and diazepam (Valium). Br J Anaesth. 1973 Jul;45(7):738–744. doi: 10.1093/bja/45.7.738. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology are provided here courtesy of British Pharmacological Society

RESOURCES