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Profile of acute tolerance to three sedative anxiolytics

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Abstract

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.

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Ellinwood, E.H., Linnoila, M., Easler, M.E. et al. Profile of acute tolerance to three sedative anxiolytics. Psychopharmacology 79, 137–141 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00427800

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00427800

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