Profile of acute tolerance to three sedative anxiolytics.
Acute tolerance, defined as a decreasing drug effect relative to drug-plasma levels (DPL) over a period of minutes to a few hours, is pronounced following single doses of diazepam or pentobarbital. Both of these lipid-soluble drugs produce an early peak behavioral impairment and subsequent rapid recovery component that is followed by a much slower blood-drug rise time. These pronounced early peak effects were not shared by alcohol, and contribute significantly to the lack of correlation between impairment and DPL.
D000328:Adult; D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents / Q000097:blood / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001334:Automobile Driving; D003975:Diazepam / Q000494:pharmacology; D004361:Drug Tolerance; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010424:Pentobarbital / Q000494:pharmacology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects; D013997:Time Factors
D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents; D000431:Ethanol; D010424:Pentobarbital; D003975:Diazepam