Folia psychiatrica et neurologica japonica最新文献

Rorschach tests were performed on patients with primary generalized epilepsy (PGE) and on patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) combined with generalized tonic-clonic convulsions. Each group consisted of 20 cases and the two groups were matched as closely as possible. Patients with PGE were found to be characterized by variable responses, sensitivity, extroversion and undifferentiated tendencies. Patients with TLE are practical but inefficient and constricted in character. Cases not on medication displayed the same character types. On the basis of the above findings, speculation is made concerning the features of neurotic or psychotic PGE patients.

The characteristics of positive occipital sharp transients (POSTs) in the human sleep EEG were studied, and their characteristics were compared with those of lambda waves appearing in the occipital EEG during the waking state. The following findings were obtained: 1) POSTs were observed in 57% of 189 subjects examined during sleep. The incidence of the subjects showing POSTs was highest in the group of subjects aged 21-30 years. 2) The incidence of the subjects showing POSTs tended to be high among the subjects with a high alpha wave index. 3) The wave form and topography of POSTs had striking similarities to those of lambda waves. 4) The frequency of POSTs was highest during the initial 30 minutes' period of NREM sleep after the sleep onset in both nocturnal and diurnal sleep. 5) The frequency and amplitude of POSTs were not modified by changing the background illumination in the recording room. 6) No significant relation was found between the frequency of POSTs and dream experience during NREM sleep.

The averaged photopalpebral reflex (PPR) was bipolarly recorded from electrodes placed on the upper and lower palpebrae in male university students. In a drowsy state which was defined by the monitored EEG, the latencies of PPR were significantly prolonged and the amplitude reduced. In contrast, the latencies were shortened by immersing their hands in ice water which greatly aroused the subjects. The central stimulant, methylphenidate 10 mg, significantly shortened the latencies and diazepam 5 mg possessing anxiolytic and hypnotic actions significantly prolonged them. When the recording of PPR was repeated consecutively five times, the amplitude was easily reduced but the latencies were relatively stable. From these results, it is confirmed that the latencies of PPR are prolonged in a lowered arousal level and shortened in a more aroused state. This indicates that PPR could be a useful index to assess objectively the arousal level of humans and hence could be a useful tool for investigations of psychophysiology and psychopharmacology.

Centrally active amino acids (GABA, glutamate, aspartate) were assayed enzyme-fluorometrically in five brain regions of the rat after a 16-day administration of methamphetamine (2.5 mg/kg, i.p.) and haloperidol (2.5 mg/kg, i.p.), or both agents together. Methamphetamine caused no statistically-significant changes in the GABA contents in any brain areas, a significant decrease in the glutamate content of the striatum, hippocampus and midbrain and an increase in the aspartate content of the hypothalamus. Haloperidol treatment resulted in no changes in the GABA content, a significant decrease in the glutamate content of the striatum and a significant increase in the aspartate content in the frontal cortex. The treatment with both agents caused a significant decrease in the GABA content of the hypothalamus. The combined administration normalized a lowering of the glutamate levels in the striatum caused by methamphetamine and haloperidol, respectively, and increased the level of aspartate in the hypothalamus caused by methamphetamine and in the frontal cortex caused by haloperidol.

Psychiatric problems have been discussed concerning epileptic children and they are still controversial as to whether it is characteristic to epilepsy or not. We analyzed the behavioral problems both in the normally developed children with epilepsy and the normal control group with the same behavioral score and then investigated the differences between epileptic children with normal development and those with retardation. The study disclosed that the epileptic children had problems in almost all fields such as emotional disturbances, daily life activity and human relationship and these were associated with the development and control of seizures. The retarded children had the disorders more frequently than the normally developed epileptic children.

The possible existence of the risks of occurrence of psychoses was examined in relation to the types of epilepsies and epileptic seizures. This study consisted of two investigations: 1) A study of 879 epileptic patients was conducted in which the incidence of psychoses in the different types of epilepsies was surveyed; the result was that the incidence in temporal lobe epilepsy was the highest, being relatively higher than that of other (non-temporal lobe) partial epilepsies but not significantly different from that of generalized epilepsies. 2) A comparative study was carried out on 96 patients with temporal lobe epilepsy in which 48 were psychotic and another 48 were non-psychotic which served as a control group. The differences of seizure symptomatology between the two groups were compared. The results were that the psychotic group was found to exhibit at a significantly higher rate generalized tonic-clonic convulsion and compound seizure manifestations in comparison with the non-psychotic group. The results appear to support the fact that generalizing mechanisms of temporal lobe epileptic manifestations are closely related to a physiopathogenic factor influencing psychoses.

The effects of a single and repeated administrations of imipramine on the tetrabenazine-induced sedation in rats were studied. The 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylethyleneglycol-sulfate (MHPG-SO4) level in the brain was measured. A single administration of imipramine of 20 mg/kg had no significant effect on the rats' locomotor activity and the brain MHPG-SO4. The administration of 30 mg/kg of tetrabenazine produced marked sedation and significantly increased the brain MHPG-SO4. The imipramine pretreatment reversed the tetrabenazine-induced sedation. The brain MHPG-SO4 in the rats treated with a single administration of imipramine along with tetrabenazine decreased significantly, compared with that in the rats treated with tetrabenazine only. The administration of alpha-methyl-para-tyrosine (alpha-MT) of 250 mg/kg suppressed the reversal of the tetrabenazine-induced sedation. The administration of Ro4-4602 of 50 mg/kg and L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) of 100 mg/kg had no significant effect on the reversal. The repeated daily administrations of imipramine of 20 mg/kg reversed the tetrabenazine-induced sedation and produced the locomotor hyperactivity. When the rats were treated with the repeated administrations of imipramine for five days and had tetrabenazine administered on the last day, the brain MHPG-SO4 increased significantly as compared with that in the rats treated with a single administration of imipramine and tetrabenazine. There was no difference in the amount of locomotor activity between the rats administered imipramine of 20 mg/kg and tetrabenazine and those administered imipramine of 40 mg/kg and tetrabenazine. Several considerations were given to the above-mentioned results.

The biochemical characteristics of the muscarinic acetylcholine receptors were studied on the E1 strain mouse brain by the binding assay using [3H]1- quinuclidinyl benzylate. Scatchard analyses showed that the receptor density (Bmax) of the hippocampus significantly decreased by 26.4% and the affinity (Kd) increased by 18.8% in E1(+) compared to dd-Y. It is suggested that this hippocampal subsensitivity found in E1(+) mouse might be strain-specific, because repeated megimide convulsions failed to produce the same down regulation.