Ipsapirone neuroendocrine challenge: relationship to aggression as measured in the human laboratory

Psychiatry Res. 1998 Oct 19;81(1):31-8. doi: 10.1016/s0165-1781(98)00081-x.

Abstract

Thirty-one human subjects were administered a neuroendocrine challenge with the 5-HT1a agonist ipsapirone after completing six sessions of a laboratory measure of aggression, the Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm (PSAP), in order to determine if a laboratory measure of aggression was related to serotonin function. Subjects who showed more aggressive responding on the PSAP (n = 11) had a significantly blunted temperature response to ipsapirone compared to those with less aggressive responding (n = 20). There was no difference between the two groups on the cortisol response to ipsapirone. This study supports a relationship between serotonin function and aggression as measured in the human laboratory, similar to the well-documented association between self-reported aggression and serotonin.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aggression / drug effects*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Hydrocortisone / metabolism*
  • Male
  • Prolactin / metabolism*
  • Pyrimidines / pharmacology*
  • Serotonin Receptor Agonists / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Pyrimidines
  • Serotonin Receptor Agonists
  • ipsapirone
  • Prolactin
  • Hydrocortisone