title: Apomorphine-induced blinking and yawning in healthy volunteers.
abstract: Yawning and spontaneous blink rate (SBR) are two physiological reflexes which have been incompletely examined but one neurobiological step of these two behaviours seems, at least in part, dopamine-dependent. The reference dopaminergic agonist, apomorphine hydrochloride (0.5, 1, and 2 micrograms kg-1 s.c.), was compared with a placebo in a double-blind latin-square design, and was shown to induce yawning and increase SBR in a population of eight healthy volunteers. These two behavioral effects were not dose-related. The individual SBR differences were correlated with the individual number of yawns for all the four treatments at the 10-30 min interval. Thus, parallel yawning and SBR behaviour suggests a similar pharmacological mechanism. Apomorphine-induced yawning and blinking may be therefore of use in the evaluation of central dopaminergic pathways in man.
authors: Clinique des maladies du système nerveux et de l'appareil locomoteur, CHU Timone, Marseille, France.
authors: O
authors: O
authors: Blin
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Masson
authors: J P
authors: JP
authors: Azulay
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Fondarai
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Serratrice
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001058:Apomorphine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001767:Blinking; D004298:Dopamine; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015000:Yawning
chemical_list: D001058:Apomorphine; D004298:Dopamine