No abstract

In man, incessant, compulsive sexual activity may follow an increase in brain serotonin simultaneously with a decrease in brain noradrenalin. In animals a similar compulsive aphrodisiac effect on behaviour can occur with the use of an antiserotonin drug permitting a relative increase in noradrenalin. Five commonly used drugs of dependence, including morphine, have been shown to increase brain serotonin, thus disturbing the ratio of this monoamine, to noradrenalin. It is argued that drug dependence is a phenomenon of learning and that this learning depends upon stimulation of the reward system of the lateral hypothalamus, medial forebrain bundle and midbrain reticular formation. Drug dependence could follow if the balance of brain serotonin and noradrenalin were seriously disturbed by the drug in either direction. It is suggested that normalization of this metabolic balance might be a logical goal for treatment in drug addiction.

53 healthy persons were monitored for skin temperature by a Hardy dermal radiometer every 60 sec. Readings continued until a spontaneous cycle appeared. 32 subjects were examined awake and 21 while asleep. A spontaneous rhythm with a mean of 4.25 min was found for the awake subjects, and one of 8.33 for the asleep subjects. To confirm these findings longer recordings were made by a thermocouple electronic thermometer in a further 23 subjects. Observations were continued until the awake subject slept. The results were analyzed by autocorrelation. In 13 records the sleeping rhythm was significantly longer than the waking. Another thermocouple probe in 14 subjects was used to measure axillary temperature. In 7 subjects a shorter cycle was seen while awake and a longer one while they slept. The properties of a perceptual clock are reviewed. It is suggested that the relative awareness of the subject be added to them.

The Feldberg and Myers (8, 9) hypothesis concerning body temperature regulation asserts that the delicate balance between heat production and heat loss is maintained by the relative activity of serotonin and noradrenalin neurons located in the anterior hypothalamus. This hypothesis is consistent with observations in several species of animals and birds since 1964, but not yet in man. In a therapeutic trial of l-tryptophan in schizophrenia, adequate doses of an MAOI drug and l-tryptophan were administered sequentially to seven human females, with the object of fostering the accumulation of predominantly noradrenalin in the brain by the former and exclusively of serotonin by the latter. Rectal temperatures were measured twice daily. It was found that the MAOI drug alone brought about a fall in body temperature whereas the MAOI drug combined with l-tryptophan caused a rise in the majority of patients.