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Psychophysiological changes during infusions of adrenaline in various doses

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Summary

Effects on psychological and physiological variables of four doses of intravenously infused 1-adrenaline (0.05, 0.10, 0.15, and 0.20μg/kg body wt/min) and a placebo solution, were examined in five subjects. In general the dose-response curves showed progressive increase in response with increasing dose-levels of the drug. The changes in heart rate, blood pressure and subjective stress were pronounced, while the concomitant improvement in a performance test was slight. There were marked differences between the time-response patterns of the different variables in that the physiological changes remained relatively constant throughout each infusion period, whereas the subjective reactions decreased towards the end of the infusion.

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We are indebted to Dr. G. Matell, Mr. S. Köppen, and Mrs. B. Post for valuable assistance in the experimental work.

The investigation was supported by a grant from the Swedish Council for Social Science Research.

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Frankenhaeuser, M., Järpe, G. Psychophysiological changes during infusions of adrenaline in various doses. Psychopharmacologia 4, 424–432 (1963). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00403347

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