Increase in somatotropin levels and the EEG during nocturnal sleep in the normal adult following administration of pimozide
Puca, F.M.; Dammacco, F.; Rigillo, N.; Specchio, L.M.; Genco, S.; Chetrì, G.; Torelli, A.; Maggiore, A.; Frezza, E.; Leomanni, R.
Bollettino della Societa Italiana di Biologia Sperimentale 54(5): 460-465
1978
ISSN/ISBN: 0037-8771 PMID: 737078 Document Number: 128034
The sleep pattern of 6 volunteers was recorded polygraphically (EEG, electrooculogram, electromyogram) during a basal period of nontreatment and during a subsequent period of treatment with pimozide (2 mg orally in 2 doses 12 h apart, for 5 days). During the treatment period, internal human growth hormone [hGH] secretion into the blood stream was tested at 30-min intervals by radioimmunoassay, using an indwelling needle-catheter. Sleep recordings were subdivided in phases according to international criteria. Since pimozide is a neuroleptic with prolonged inhibitory action on central dopaminergic receptors, it was used to study monamine control of nightly hGH secretion. During pimozide administration, variations in the various sleep parameters were never clear-cut and significant, except for the time of waking after falling asleep, which diminished in all subjects. Neither did data on nocturnal secretion of hGH show significant variations; the role of central dopaminergic drugs on hGH secretion is questionable during sleep, perhaps because mechanisms that regulate hGH secretion are not the same during waking as during sleep.