Serotonin syndrome: a concise review of a toxic state.

The serotonin syndrome is a toxic state caused by increased intrasynaptic serotonin and characterized by a triad of altered mental status, autonomic instability and neuromuscular abnormalities. It can result from exposure to a single serotonergic agent but is more likely to be due to polypharmacy, often with drugs from multiple classes. It develops over a short period of time and resolves just as quickly once identified and treated.

Changes in caudate volume after exposure to atypical neuroleptics in patients with schizophrenia may be sex-dependent.

Background: Changes in the volume of the caudate nucleus over time in patients with schizophrenia has been shown to be directly related to neuroleptic exposure. Few studies have evaluated caudate volume in subjects with schizophrenia who were neuroleptic naive at intake and treated exclusively with atypical neuroleptics.

Methods: Fourteen patients were matched by gender to 14 healthy controls and were evaluated over time using MRI.

Cannabinoids attenuate capsaicin-evoked hyperalgesia through spinal and peripheral mechanisms.

Previous studies in our laboratory have demonstrated that cannabinoids administered intravenously attenuate the duration of nocifensive behavior and block the development of hyperalgesia produced by intraplantar injection of capsaicin. In the present study, we extended these observations and determined whether cannabinoids attenuate capsaicin-evoked pain and hyperalgesia through spinal and peripheral mechanisms, and whether the antihyperalgesia was receptor mediated. Separate groups of rats were pretreated 7 min before capsaicin with an intrathecal injection of vehicle or the cannabinoid receptor agonist WIN 55,212-2 at doses of 0.