Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1990 Jun;47(6):534-8.
doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.1990.01810180034006.

Reduced benzodiazepine sensitivity in panic disorder

P P Roy-Byrne  1 , D S Cowley, D J Greenblatt, R I Shader, D Hommer
Affiliations

Reduced benzodiazepine sensitivity in panic disorder

P P Roy-Byrne et al. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1990 Jun.

Abstract

We evaluated the functional sensitivity of the gamma-aminobutyric acid-benzodiazepine supramolecular complex in 9 patients with panic disorder and 10 psychiatrically healthy control subjects by comparing the effects of four logarithmically increasing doses of intravenous diazepam on saccadic eye movement velocity, memory, and self-rated sedation. Patients with panic disorder were less sensitive than controls to diazepam using eye velocity as the dependent measure. Sedation and memory effects did not distinguish the two groups. These findings suggest that panic disorder is associated with functional subsensitivity of the gamma-aminobutyric acid-benzodiazepine supramolecular complex in brain-stem areas controlling saccadic eye movements.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

Publication types