MISATTRIBUTION OF EMOTIONAL OVER-AROUSAL TO NEUTRAL FACES IN ACUTE PARANOID SCHIZOPHRENIA PSYCHOSIS.

Introduction: Misattribution of motivational salience to non-salient (neutral) stimuli could be viewed as a hallmark of psychosis in schizophrenia. Studies have recently revealed increased subjective experience of emotional arousal (EA) to neutral social stimuli in paranoid schizophrenia psychosis, suggesting a misattribution of emotional salience to them. We examined this phenomenon directly by quantifying the level of EA subjectively attributed to low-arousal, neutral-valenced faces.

Alpha and beta noradrenergic mediation of NMDA glutamatergic effects on lordosis behaviour and plasmatic LH concentrations in the primed female rat.

In previous studies we have found that blockade of NMDA (N-Methyl-D-Aspartic-Acid)-type glutamatergic receptor with intracerebroventricular (ICV) selective drugs induces an inhibition of lordosis in ovariectomized (OVX) estrogen primed rats receiving progesterone or luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH). By the opposite way, stimulation with NMDA in OVX estrogen primed rats induced a significant increase of lordosis. In the present study the action of an alpha1-noradrenergic antagonist, HEAT (BE 2254/2-beta-4-Hydroxyphenyl-Ethyl-Aminomethyl-1-Tetralone), and Metoprolol, a beta-noradrenergic antagonist, were studied injecting them ICV previously to NMDA administration in treated OVX estrogen primed rats.