Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T20:44:02.679Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effect of propranolol and phenothiazines on electrodermal orienting and habituation in schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

John Gruzelier ,
John Connolly ,
Frank Eves ,
Steven Hirsch ,
Saniha Zaki ,
Malcolm Weller  and
Neil Yorkston
John Gruzelier*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, University of London; Friern Hospital, London; and the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals,London
John Connolly
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, University of London; Friern Hospital, London; and the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals,London
Frank Eves
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, University of London; Friern Hospital, London; and the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals,London
Steven Hirsch
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, University of London; Friern Hospital, London; and the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals,London
Saniha Zaki
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, University of London; Friern Hospital, London; and the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals,London
Malcolm Weller
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, University of London; Friern Hospital, London; and the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals,London
Neil Yorkston
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, University of London; Friern Hospital, London; and the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals,London
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr John Gruzelier, Department of Psychiatry, Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, Fulham Palace Road, London W6 8RP.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

Bilateral electrodermal orienting responses were measured to repeated auditory stimuli in schizophrenic patients and controls. In 3 studies phasic activity to moderate intensity sounds of patients on no drugs or phenothiazines was predominantly hyper- or hypo-responsive. Controls showed moderate or slow habituation. Propranolol was found to facilitate habituation in slow habituators and to reinstate responses in half of non-responders, especially when given as the sole drug. The effects seldom had a counterpart in changes in non-specific responses or levels of skin conductance. Modulatory influences on stimulus and response processing and on lateral asymmetries in responses may underlie propranolol's efficacy in treating schizophrenia.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , February 1981 , pp. 93 - 108
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Atsmon, A. & Blum, I. (1978). The discovery. In Propranolol and Schizophrenia (ed. Roberts, E. and Amacher, P.), pp. 5–38. A. R. Liss: New York.Google Scholar
Bagshaw, H. H. & Benzies, S. (1968). Multiple measures of the orienting reaction and their dissociation after amygdalectomy in monkeys. Experimental Neurology 20, 175–187.Google Scholar
Bernstein, A. S. (1964). The galvanic skin response orienting reflex in chronic schizophrenics. Psychonomic Science 1, 391–392.Google Scholar
Bernstein, A. S. (1967). Electrodermal base level, tonic arousal, and adaptation in chronic schizophrenics. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 72, 221–232.Google Scholar
Bernstein, A. S. (1970). Phasic electrodermal orienting response in chronic schizophrenics. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 75, 146–156.Google Scholar
Bjorkstrand, P. A. & Dureman, I. (1971). Relaxation transfer in electrodermal activity as affected by a new minor tranquillizer (430 6CB). Psychopharmacologia (Berlin) 20, 146–156.Google Scholar
Bohlin, G. (1973). The relationship between arousal level and habituation of the orienting reaction. Physiological Psychology 1, 308–312.Google Scholar
Bull, R. & Gale, A. (1974). Does the law of initial value apply to the galvanic skin response? Biological Psychology 1, 213–227.Google Scholar
Douglas, R. J. (1967). The hippocampus and behaviour. Psychology Bulletin 67, 416–422.Google Scholar
Douglas, R. J. (1972). Pavlovian conditioning and the brain. In Inhibition and Learning (ed. Boakes, R. and Halliday, M.), pp. 529–553. Academic Press: London.Google Scholar
Garvey, H. L. & Ram, N. (1975). Comparative antihypertensive effects and tissue distribution of beta adrenergic blocking drugs. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 194, 220–233.Google Scholar
Glick, S. D., Jerussi, T. P. & Zimmerberg, B. (1977). Behavioural and neuropharmacological correlates of nigrostriatal asymmetry in rats. In Lateralisation in the Nervous System (ed. Hanard, S., Doty, R. W. and Goldstein, L.), pp. 213–250. Academic Press: London.Google Scholar
Gloor, P. (1960). Amygdala. In Handbook of Physiology, Section I, Neurophysiology, vol. 2 (ed. Field, J.), pp. 1395–1420. American Physiological Society: Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Graham, F. K. & Clifton, R. K. (1966). Heart rate change as a component of the orienting response. Psychological Bulletin 65, 305–320.Google Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H. (1973). Bilateral asymmetry of skin conductance orienting activity and levels in schizophrenia. Journal of Biological Psychology 1, 24–41.Google Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H. (1978). Bimodal states of arousal and lateralised dysfunction in schizophrenia: the effect of chlorpromazine. In The Nature of Schizophrenia: New Approaches to Research and Treatment (ed. Wynne, L. C., Cromwell, R. L. and Matthysse, S.), pp. 167–187. Wiley: New York.Google Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H. (1979 a). Lateral asymmetries in electrodermal activity and psychosis. In Hemisphere Asymmetries of Function in Psychopathology (ed. Gruzelier, J. H. and Flor-Henry, P.), pp. 149–168. Elsevier–North Holland: Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H. (1979 b). Synthesis and critical review of the evidence for hemisphere asymmetries of function in psychopathology. In Hemisphere Asymmetries of Function in Psychopathology (ed. Gruzelier, J. H. and Flor-Henry, P.), pp. 647–672. Elsevier–North Holland: Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H. & Hammond, N. V. (1978). The effect of chlorpromazine upon psychophysiological, endocrine and information processing measures in schizophrenia. Journal of Psychiatric Research 14, 167–182.Google Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H. & Hammond, N. V. (1979). Lateralised auditory processing in medicated and unmedicated schizophrenic patients. In Hemisphere Asymmetries of Function in Psychopathology (ed. Gruzelier, J. H. and Flor-Henry, P.), pp. 603–638. Elsevier–North Holland: Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H. & Venables, P. H. (1972). Skin conductance orienting activity in a heterogeneous sample of schizophrenics: possible evidence of limbic dysfunction. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 155, 277–287.Google Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H. & Venables, P. H. (1973). Skin conductance responses to tones with and without attentional significance in schizophrenic and non-schizophrenic patients. Neuropsychologia 11, 221–230.Google Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H. & Venables, P. H. (1974). Bimodality and lateral asymmetry of skin conductance orienting activity in schizophrenics: replication and evidence of lateral asymmetry in patients with depression and disorders of personality. Biological Psychiatry 8, 55–73.Google Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H., Hirsch, S. R., Weller, M. & Murphy, C. (1979). The influence of D- or DL-propranolol and chlorpromazine on habituation of phasic electrodermal responses in schizophrenia. Acta psychiatrica scandinavica 60, 241–248.Google Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H., Thornton, S., Staniforth, D., Zaki, S. & Yorkston, N. J. (1980). Active and passive avoidance learning in controls and schizophrenic patients on racemic propranolol and neuroleptics. British Journal of Psychiatry 134, 131–137.Google Scholar
Gruzelier, J. H., Connolly, J. F. & Hirsch, S. R. (1981). Altered brain functional organization in psychosis: brain behaviour relationships. In Recent Advances of Biological Psychiatry. Karger: Basel (in the press).Google Scholar
Hammond, N. V. & Gruzelier, J. H. (1978). Laterality, attention and rate effects in the auditory temporal discrimination of chronic schizophrenics: the effect of treatment with chlorpromazine. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 30, 91–103.Google Scholar
Holdstock, T. L. (1969). Autonomic reactivity following septal and amygdaloid lesions in white rats. Physiology and Behaviour 4, 603–607.Google Scholar
Houser, V. P. & Van Hart, D. A. (1974). The effect of chlorpromazine and imipramine on the aversive threshold of rats. Physiological Psychology 2, 333–336.Google Scholar
Jackson, V. C. (1974). Amplitude and habituation of the orienting reflex as a function of stimulus intensity. Psychophysiology 11, 647–659.Google Scholar
Jones, B. E. & Prada, J. A. (1976). Effects of morphine, chlorpromazine and chlordiazepoxide on shock induced changes in basal skin conductance. Archives of International Pharmacology 223, 265–270.Google Scholar
Key, B. J. & Bradley, P. B. (1960). The effects of drugs on conditioning and habituation to arousal stimuli in animals. Psychopharmacologia (Berlin) 1, 450–462.Google Scholar
Kimble, D. P. (1968). Hippocampus and internal inhibition. Psychological Bulletin 70, 285–295.Google Scholar
Kimmel, H. (ed.) (1980). The Orienting Reflex in Humans. Erlbaum: London.Google Scholar
Lader, M. H. & Wing, L. (1966). Physiological Measures, Sedative Drugs and Morbid Anxiety. Oxford University Press: London.Google Scholar
Lang, H., Tuovinen, T. & Valsala, P. (1964). Amygdaloid after discharge and galvanic skin response. EEG and Clinical Neurophysiology 16, 366–374.Google Scholar
Lindström, L. N. & Persson, E. (1980). Propranolol in chronic schizophrenia: a controlled study in neuroleptictreated patients. British Journal of Psychiatry 137, 126–130.Google Scholar
Luria, A. R. & Homskaya, E. D. (1970). Frontal lobe and the regulation of arousal processes. In Attention: Contemporary Theory and Research (ed. Mostofsky, D.), pp. 303–330. Appleton: New York.Google Scholar
Lynn, R. (1963). Russian theory and research on schizophrenia. Psychological Bulletin 60, 486–498.Google Scholar
Maltzman, I., Smith, M. J., Kantor, W. & Mandell, M. P. (1971). Effects of stress on habituation of the orienting reflex. Journal of Experimental Psychology 87, 207–214.Google Scholar
Marcy, R. & Quermonne, N. (1974). An improved method for studying the psychogalvanic reaction in mice and its inhibition by psycholeptic drugs. Psychopharinacologia (Berlin) 43, 355–361.Google Scholar
Martin, I. & Rust, J. (1976). Habituation and the structure of the electrodermal system. Psychophysiology 13, 554–562.Google Scholar
Massuoka, D. & Hansson, E. (1967). Autoradiographic distribution studies of adrenergic blocking agents. II: 14C-propranolol, a beta-receptor-type blocker. Acta pharmacologica et toxicologica 25, 447–455.Google Scholar
Matthysse, S., Spring, B. J. & Sugarman, J. (eds.) (1979). Attention and Information Processing in Schizophrenia. Pergamon: London.Google Scholar
McGhie, A. (1968). The Pathology of Attention. Pergamon: London.Google Scholar
Oke, A., Keller, R. & Mefford, J. (1978). Lateralisation of norepinephrine in the human thalamus. Science 200, 1411–1413.Google Scholar
Overall, J. E. & Gorham, D. R. (1962). The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale. Psychological Reports 10, 799–812.Google Scholar
Patterson, T. (1976). Skin conductance responding/non-responding and pupillometrics in chronic schizophrenia: a confirmation of Gruzelier and Venables. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 163, 188–195.Google Scholar
Patterson, T. & Venables, P. H. (1978). Bilateral skin conductance and skin potential in schizophrenic and normal subjects. Psychophysiology 15, 556–560.Google Scholar
Pribram, K. H. (1969). The neurobehavioural analysis of limbic functions and mechanisms. Advances in the Study of Behaviour 2, 297–332.Google Scholar
Pribram, K. H. & McGuinness, D. (1975). Arousal, activalion and effort in the control of attention. Psychological Review 82, 116–147.Google Scholar
Pugh, L. A. (1978). Response time and electrodermal measures in chronic schizophrenia. The effect of chlorpromazine. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 146, 62–70.Google Scholar
Ram, N., Hesse, V. C. & Heilman, R. D. (1977). The effects of propranolol HCl in hippocampal-lesioned rats. Archives of Internatiational Pharmacology 229, 138–143.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. S. (1974). Basic concepts of psychopharmacological research as applied to the psychopharmacological analysis of the amygdala. Acta neurobiologica et experimentia 34, 543–562.Google Scholar
Rubens, R. W. & Lapidus, I. B. (1978). Arousal patterns and stimulus barrier functioning in schizophrenia. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 87, 199–211.Google Scholar
Serafetinides, E. A. (1972). Laterality and voltage in the EEG of psychiatric patients. Diseases of the Nervous System 33, 622–623.Google Scholar
Shepperd, G. P. (1979). High dose propranolol in schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry 134, 470–476.Google Scholar
Spohn, H. E., Thetford, P. E. & Cancro, R. (1971). The effects of phenothiazine medication on skin conductance and heart rate in schizophrenic patients. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 152, 129–139.Google Scholar
Straube, E. R. (1979). On the meaning of electrodermal non-responding in schizophrenia. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 167, 601–611.Google Scholar
Sugarman, A. A., Goldstein, L. & Murphree, D. (1964). EEG and behavioural changes in schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry 10, 340–346.Google Scholar
Tecce, J. J. & Cole, J. D. (1972). Psychophysiologic responses of schizophrenics to drugs. Psychopharmacologia (Berlin) 24, 159–200.Google Scholar
Tyrer, P. J. (1976). The Role of Bodily Feelings in Anxiety. Oxford University Press: London.Google Scholar
Van Zerssen, D. (1976). Beta adrenergic blocking agents in the treatment of psychoses. Advances in Clinical Pharmacology 12, 105–114.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. (1974). The Measurement and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.Google Scholar
Yorkston, N. J., Zaki, S. A., Malik, N. K. U., Morrison, R. L. & Harvard, C. W. H. (1974). Propranolol in the control of schizophrenic symptoms. British Medical Journal iv, 633–635.Google Scholar
Yorkston, N. J., Zaki, S. A., Themen, J. F. A. & Havard, C. W. H. (1976 a). Propranolol to control schizophrenic symptoms: 55 patients. Advances in Clinical Pharmacology 12, 91–104.Google Scholar
Yorkston, N. J., Zaki, S. A., Themen, J. F. A. & Havard, C. W. H. (1976 b). Safeguards in the treatment of schizophrenia with propranolol. Postgraduate Medical Journal 52 (suppl.), 175.Google Scholar
Yorkston, N. J., Gruzelier, J. H., Zaki, S. A., Hollander, D., Pitcher, D. & Sergeant, H. S. (1977). Propranolol as an adjunct to the treatment of schizophrenia. Lancet ii, 567–578.Google Scholar
Yorkston, N. J., Zaki, S. A., Weller, M. P., Gruzelier, J. H. & Hirsch, S. R. (1981). A controlled comparison of DL-propranolol and chlorpromazine following admission for schizophrenia. Acta psychiatrica scandinavica (in the press).Google Scholar
Zahn, T. P., Rosenthal, D. & Lawlor, W. G. (1968). Electrodermal and heart rate orienting reactions in chronic schizophrenia. Journal of Psychiatric Research 6, 117–135.Google Scholar