Lactic acid was measured continuously in the dialysis perfusate emerging from the striatum of conscious, freely moving rats. The continuous measurement utilized a specific enzymatic/fluorometric detector that provided temporal information about the changes in the concentration of lactate in extracellular fluid (ECF). The level of lactate in extracellular fluid was found to be directly linked to...

We have shown that morphine has an anticonvulsive effect against maximal electroconvulsive shock (MES) in mice, and this effect is antagonized by histamine H1-receptor antagonists. Brain histamine is localized both in neurons and in mast cells, and morphine is known to enhance the turnover of neuronal histamine and to release histamine from mast cells. In the present experiments, compound 48/80...

Human hippocampal choline decreases in major depression episodes. This decrease was recently measured by our group and it has been found that its level normalizes during electroconvulsive therapy. We hypothesized a hippocampal choline increase in the rat brain under electroconvulsive shock (ECS) treatment in an animal model of depression (Learned Helplessness). Method: Rat hippocampi were inves...

The effects of intravenous lignocaine and atropine in preventing cardiac arrhythmias were evaluated in forty-five psychiatric patients undergoing electroconvulsive therapy. During the electrical shock a more prolonged asystole was observed in the lignocaine than in the atropine group. During the tonic-donic seizure ventricular extrasystoles appeared in six atropinized patients. During the postc...

In the last decade, a new history of shock therapy in psychiatry has emerged. Electroshock or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in particular has attracted the attention of the scholars German Berrios, Roberta Passioni and Max Fink, who have each examined the scientific origins of the therapy.1 Timothy W Kneeland and Carol A B Warren have explored its history in the United States, and Jonathan Sa...