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Behavioral sensitization is the process whereby intermittent stimulant exposure produces
a time-dependent, enduring, and progressively more robust behavioral response. This
process serves as an important model of neural plasticity and has also been proposed
as a model for a variety of psychiatric syndromes; however, there are no published
controlled studies of behavioral sensitization in human subjects. The authors report
results from a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of repeated d-amphetamine challenges
in a sample of normal human volunteers. Eleven consecutively recruited normal volunteers
participated in this 4-day protocol. Each subject received two daily doses of d-amphetamine
(0.25 mg/kg) separated by 48 hours that alternated with two daily doses of matched
placebo. Symptoms (activity/energy level, mood, rate, and amount of speech) and eye-blink
rates were measured hourly for 5 hours following drug administration. All four measures
demonstrated significantly enhanced increases following the second amphetamine dose
as compared to the first amphetamine dose and both placebo conditions. These findings
suggest that behavioral sensitization is measurable in human subjects.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Received in revised form:
September 11,
1995
Received:
May 15,
1995
Footnotes
This work was supported by a Scottish Rite Schizophrenia Research Program, N.M.S. Award.
Identification
Copyright
© 1996 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc.
