title: Central and peripheral cholinesterase inhibition: effects on anterior pituitary and sympathomimetic function.
abstract: Ten physically healthy inpatients of mixed diagnosis received, in a randomized, counterbalanced double-blind paradigm, physostigmine (22 micrograms/kg) and neostigmine (11 micrograms/kg). Infusions were separated by at least 2 days. The differential effects of physostigmine and neostigmine on plasma concentrations of cortisol, prolactin, growth hormone, ACTH, beta-endorphin/beta-lipotropin-like immunoreactivity, dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine are reported. Administration of physostigmine, unlike that of neostigmine, was associated with statistically significant increases in plasma concentrations of cortisol, prolactin, ACTH, beta-endorphin/beta-lipotropin-like immunoreactivity, and epinephrine, presumably via central mechanisms. In a separate study, 15 subjects, mostly depressed inpatients, were pretreated with methscopolamine (0.75 mg) on one day and scopolamine (0.5 mg) on another day, at least 2 days apart, in a randomized, counterbalanced double blind paradigm and subsequently on each day received physostigmine (22 micrograms/kg). Scopolamine significantly attenuated the physostigmine-associated increase in plasma concentrations of cortisol, growth hormone, prolactin, ACTH, and dopamine compared to methscopolamine, and a close-to-significant attenuation of epinephrine as well. These results provide further evidence that physostigmine's effects on plasma concentrations of pituitary hormones and epinephrine occur via central mechanisms and are muscarinically mediated.
mesh_terms: D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone / Q000097:blood; D002395:Catecholamines / Q000097:blood; D004723:Endorphins / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009388:Neostigmine; D010830:Physostigmine; D010903:Pituitary Gland, Anterior / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010908:Pituitary Hormones, Anterior / Q000097:blood; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D002395:Catecholamines; D004723:Endorphins; D010908:Pituitary Hormones, Anterior; D009388:Neostigmine; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone; D010830:Physostigmine; D006854:Hydrocortisone