Effects of 5-hydroxytryptophan on fragmentation of REM sleep in alcoholics
- 1 January 1975
- journal article
- Published by American Psychiatric Association Publishing in American Journal of Psychiatry
- Vol. 132 (1), 74-76
- https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.132.1.74
Abstract
The authors studied the effects of oral loading with 5-HTP on REM fragmentation in a group of alcoholics who were abstinent following acute ethanol withdrawal. Decreased fragmentation was found in the majority of subjects, and those subjects with low baseline REM efficiency (i.e., greater fragmentation) showed more improvement from the drug than did subjects who were less impaired initially. The authors suggest that there is an organic decrement of serotonin during ethanol withdrawal which is partially reversed by 5-HTP loading.Keywords
This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
- Sleep of Dry AlcoholicsArchives of General Psychiatry, 1973
- The central metabolism of serotonin in the cat during insomnia. A neurophysiological and biochemical study after administration ofP-chlorophenylalanine or destruction of the raphe´systemBrain Research, 1971
- SLEEP DISTURBANCES AND HALLUCINATIONS IN THE ACUTE ALCOHOLIC PSYCHOSESJournal of Nervous & Mental Disease, 1966