Effects of flunitrazepam on responses to lateralized visual stimuli: evidence for cerebral asymmetry of execution of manual movements to targets in contralateral and ipsilateral visual space.

In order to examine the effects of benzodiazepines on response execution by the left and right hemisphere, flunitrazepam (1 mg) or placebo was administered to healthy, right handed volunteers in two separate experiments. In experiment 1, drug was administered daily during a treatment period of 8 days, and subjects were instructed to fixate vision centrally and to execute laterally directed manual responses corresponding to the position of visual stimuli presented in either the right or left hemifield. Experiment 2 was performed with a single dose and cross-over design, and subjects responded to the laterally presented visual stimuli by key press of a centrally positioned response device, i.

Relationship between unbound plasma concentrations and various psychomotor and subjective effects after intakes of diazepam and flunitrazepam.

Unbound plasma concentrations of diazepam and flunitrazepam were related to psychomotor and subjective effects of the two drugs. The interindividual variability in plasma protein binding of both diazepam (98.5 +/- 0.

Development of acute tolerance after oral doses of diazepam and flunitrazepam.

Flunitrazepam (1 and 2 mg), diazepam (10 and 20 mg) or placebo was administered to healthy, male volunteers, and the time course of psychomotor impairment, as indicated by simple and complex choice reaction time and movement time, was studied during a period of 6 h after drug intake. To examine whether acute tolerance developed, the observed performance during decreasing drug plasma concentration was compared to the predicted performance based on kinetic-dynamic modelling of the observed performance during the first 1.5 h after intake when the drug plasma concentrations were increasing or at peak level.

An animal model of postmortem amitriptyline redistribution.

An experimental rat model was developed to study postmortem changes of drug concentration after an acute overdose. Overnight fasted rats were fed 75 mg of amitriptyline (AMI). Two h after dosing, the rats were anaesthetized and blood samples were drawn from the femoral vein (peripheral blood--PB) and the heart (HB).

Amnesic effects and subjective ratings during repeated dosing of flunitrazepam to healthy volunteers.

Flunitrazepam (1 mg) or placebo was administered once daily over a treatment period of 8 days to healthy, male volunteers to study the time course of the effects on memory functions and on subjective ratings of alertness and tension. The plasma level of flunitrazepam increased by approximately 40% (P < 0.05) during the treatment period.