THE EFFECTS OF LISURIDE ON MOOD AND SLEEP DURING ACUTE WITHDRAWAL IN STIMULANT ABUSERS - A PRELIMINARY-REPORT

Psychostimulant abusers often experience anhedonia, depression, fatigu e, craving, and hypersomnia and increased propensity for rapid eye mov ement (REM) sleep during periods of acute and subacute withdrawal from cocaine and amphetamine. These signs and symptoms may reflect a state of relative functional dopamine depletion in the brain during abstine nce. Lisuride, which has dopaminergic agonist effects, has been report ed to reduce signs of psychostimulant withdrawal in rodent models of s timulant abuse. These observations prompted us to test the effects of oral administration of lisuride for 3 weeks (up to 4.0 mg daily) on mo od and craving ratings in a double-blind, parallel design, controlled study in hospitalized stimulant abusers during acute withdrawal from c ocaine or amphetamine. Although administration of lisuride significant ly prolonged REM latency and reduced REM time, amelioration of other s igns of withdrawal was not significantly greater in lisuride as compar ed with placebo treated patients. Self-rated craving ratings, however, were low in both groups throughout the hospital stay. Further studies , perhaps in patients with more severe symptoms during withdrawal, are needed to fully test the efficacy of lisuride in the treatment of sti mulant withdrawal.