ACUTE EFFECTS OF TRANQUILIZING DRUGS ON THE ANTERIOR PITUITARY-ACTH MECHANISM

Abstract

THE use of the tranquilizing agents in the therapy of the psychiatric patient has promoted considerable interest among investigators concerning the mechanism of action of these drugs. Reported success in sedating disturbed individuals prompted the present investigation to study the effects of the tranquilizing drugs on the anterior pituitarycortical mechanism. Recent work in this laboratory indicates that there is a high degree of correlation between plasma 17-hydroxycorticosteroid (17-OH-CS) levels and clinically estimated levels of anxiety in patients awaiting elective thoracic surgery (1). Similar plasma 17-OH-CS elevations were associated with experimentally conditioned “anxiety” and avoidance responses in the rhesus monkey (2). Since the tranquilizing drugs can suppress “anxiety,” clinically and in the experimental animal, it might be expected that these drugs may depress anterior pituitary activity resulting in decreased levels of 17-OH-CS in peripheral blood.