Abstract
Eight patients with generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) and eight matched healthy controls had their polysomnogram measured on two occasions separated by 1 week. On one occasion they received the 5-HT2 receptor antagonist, ritanserin (5 mg orally) and on the other matching placebo. The increase in slow wave sleep produced by ritanserin was the same in GAD patients as in healthy controls. These findings do not support the hypothesis that GAD is associated with a generalised hypersensitivity of brain 5-HT2 receptors; however, the present data cannot exclude the presence of a regionally specific change in this receptor subtype in anxiety disorders.
References
Ceulemans DLS, Hoppenbrouwers MLJA, Gelders YG, Reyntjens AJM (1985) The influence of ritanserin, a serotonin antagonist, in anxiety disorders: a double blind placebo-controlled study versus lorazepam. Pharmacol Psychiat 18:303–305
Deakin JFW (1989) Role of 5-HT receptor subtypes in depression. In: Archer T, Bevan P, Cools A (eds) Behaviourial pharmacology of 5-HT. Erlbaum, New York, pp 179–204
Dugovic C (1991) Hypotheses on the functional activity of 5-HT2 receptor-mediated sleep regulation. Sleep Res 20A:127
Friston KJ, Sharpley AL, Solomon RA, Cowen PJ (1989) Lithium increases slow wave sleep: possible mediation by brain 5-HT2 receptors? Psychopharmacology 98:139–140
Hensman R, Guimaraes FS, Wang M, Deakin JFW (1991) Effects of ritanserin on aversive classical conditioning in humans. Psychopharmacology 104:220–224
Hoyer D (1988) Molecular pharmacology and biology of 5-HT1C receptors. TIPS 9:89–94
Idzikowski C, Mills FJ, James RJ (1991) A dose-response study examining the effects of ritanserin on human slow wave sleep. Br J Clin Pharmacol 31:193–196
Johnstone EC, Cunningham Owens DG, Frith CD, McPherson K, Dowie C, Riley G, Gold A (1980) Neurotic illness and its response to anxiolytic and antidepressant treatment. Psychol Med 10:321–328
Petsche H, Pockberger H, Rappelsberger P (1984) On the search for sources of the electroencephalogram. Neuroscience 11:1–27
Reynolds CF III, Shaw DH, Newton TF, Coble PA, Kupfer DJ (1983) EEG sleep in outpatients with generalized anxiety: a preliminary comparison with depressed outpatients. Psychiatry Res 8:81–88
Sharpley AL, Solomon RA, Fernando AI, da Roza Davis JM, Cowen PJ (1990a) Dose-related effects of selective 5-HT2 receptor antagonists on slow wave sleep in humans. Psychopharmacology 101:568–569
Sharpley AL, Solomon RA, Cowen PJ (1988) Evaluation of first night effect using ambulatory monitoring and automatic sleep stage analysis. Sleep 11:273–276
Sharpley AL, Gregory CA, Solomon RA, Cowen PJ (1990b) Slow wave sleep and 5-HT2 receptor sensitivity during maintenance tricyclic antidepressant treatment. J Affect Disord 19:273–277
Sharpley AL, Solomon RA, Cowen PJ (1990c) Sleep stability with home sleep recording and automatic sleep stage analysis. Sleep 13:538–540
Solomon RA, Sharpley AL, Cowen PJ (1989) Increased slow wave sleep with 5-HT2 receptor antagonists: detection by ambulatory EEG recording and automatic sleep stage analysis. J Psychopharmacol 3:125–129
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
da Roza Davis, J.M., Sharpley, A.L. & Cowen, P.J. Slow wave sleep and 5-HT2 receptor sensitivity in generalised anxiety disorder: a pilot study with ritanserin. Psychopharmacology 108, 387–389 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02245128
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02245128