Central and peripheral cholinesterase inhibition: effects on anterior pituitary and sympathomimetic function

• Published in: Psychoneuroendocrinology Vol. 11; no. 2; pp. 221 - 230
• Main Authors: Risch, S.Craig, Janowsky, David S., Mott, Mariam A., Gillin, J.Christian, Kalir, Henry H., Huey, Leighton Y., Ziegler, M., Kennedy, B., Turken, Alan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 1986; Elsevier
• Subjects: ACTH; Adrenocorticotropic Hormone - blood; Biological and medical sciences; Catecholamines - blood; cortisol; dopamine; Endorphins - blood; epinephrine; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; growth hormone; Hormones and neuropeptides. Regulation; Humans; Hydrocortisone - blood; Hypothalamus. Hypophysis. Epiphysis. Urophysis; Male; Mental Disorders - physiopathology; methscopolamine; Neostigmine; norepinephrine; Physostigmine; Pituitary Gland, Anterior - physiopathology; Pituitary Hormones, Anterior - blood; prolactin; scopolamine; Sympathetic Nervous System - physiopathology; Vertebrates: endocrinology; β-endorphin/β-lipotropin-like immunoreactivity; β-endorphin/β-lipotropin-like immunoreactivity; norepinephrine; prolactin; methscopolamine; ACTH; Physostigmine; epinephrine; cortisol; neostigmine; growth hormone; scopolamine; dopamine; humans; Human; Hypothalamohypophyseal axis; Peptide hormone; Enzyme inhibitor; Neuroendocrine regulation; Opioid peptide; Biological activity; Cholinesterase; Parasympathomimetic; Protein hormone; Pituitary hormone; Autonomic nervous system; Neurotransmitter; Pituitary gland
• ISSN: 0306-4530; 1873-3360
• DOI: 10.1016/0306-4530(86)90057-0

Ten physically healthy inpatients of mixed diagnosis received, in a randomized, counter-balanced double-blind paradigm, physostigmine (22 μg/kg) and neostigmine (11 μg/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, β-endorphin/β-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, β-endorphin/β-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 μg/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.