Influence of the cholinesterase inhibitor galanthamine hydrobromide on normal sleep

doi:10.1016/0165-1781(94)90013-2

Psychiatry Research

Volume 51, Issue 3, March 1994, Pages 253-267

https://doi.org/10.1016/0165-1781(94)90013-2 Get rights and content

Abstract

Evidence from animal experiments has suggested that the triggering and maintenance of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is mainly under the control of cholinergic neurons in the brain stem. Correspondingly, studies in humans have demonstrated that the application of cholinergic agonists or cholinesterase inhibitors provokes an earlier onset of REM sleep. The present study investigated the influence of galanthamine hydrobromide, a reversible cholinesterase inhibitor, on REM sleep regulation in 18 healthy volunteers. After an adaptation night, the subjects were given two doses of galanthamine (10 mg and 15 mg) or placebo at 10 p.m. in a randomized double-blind design. Both doses of galanthamine shortened REM latency (with statistical significance depending on the definition of REM latency used), increased REM density, and reduced slow wave sleep mainly in the first non-REM cycle. Higher doses of galanthamine (15 mg) seem to be accompanied by unwanted side effects that warrant the application of a peripheral antidote. These results are comparable to those for other cholinomimetics and stress the usefulness of galanthamine for pharmacological challenge studies in healthy subjects and depressed patients.

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Influence of the cholinesterase inhibitor galanthamine hydrobromide on normal sleep

Abstract

Psychiatry Research

Psychiatry Research

Biological Psychiatry

Psychiatry Research

Biochemical Pharmacology

Lancet

Biological Psychiatry

Psychiatry Research

Psychiatry Research

Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry

Psychiatry Research

Psychiatry Research

Brain Research

Psychiatry Research

Neuroscience Letters

British Journal of Anaesthesia

The treatment of mania with the cholinomimetic drug RS 86

Pharmacopsychiatry

The cholinergic REM-sleep-induction test with RS 86: State or trait marker of depression?

Archives of General Psychiatry

Pilocarpine, an orally active muscarinic cholinergic agonist, induces REM sleep and reduces delta sleep in normal volunteers

Psychiatry Research

Galanthamine pharmacokinetics and inhibition of cholinesterases in humans

Sleep, sleep deprivation and depression

Human Neurobiology

Galanthamine hydrobromide versus neostigmine: A plasma cortisol study in man

Anaesthesia

Physostigmine in mania

Archives of General Psychiatry

Fischer Somatische Symptome und unerwünschte Effekte Check list (FSCUL)

The sleep structure of patients with anxiety disorders in comparison to that of healthy controls and depressive patients under baseline conditions and after cholinergic stimulation

Journal of Affective Disorders