RO 21-3981, a new water soluble benzodiazepine, was studied in 24 patients both as an intravenous premedicant and to induce anesthesia. The premedicant dose of 5 mg produced lack of recall and marked sedation within 1 to 2 minutes after injection and persisted for at least 32 minutes. Subsequent induction of anesthesia required an additional 5 to 25 mg of RO 21-3981. However, anesthesia was not induced in 1 patient with 25 mg and was accomplished only with inhalation anesthesia. Loss of lid reflex was unreliable as a sign of induction for patients in whom tracheal intubation was planned. Although decreases in blood pressure of 10 to 30 mm Hg were noted after administration of RO 21-3981, systolic pressure was not recorded below 90 mm Hg. RO 21-3981, because of its amnesic, sedative, and anxiolytic properties, appears to be an excellent premedicant although the 5 mg dose studied was probably larger than necessary. For induction of anesthesia, RO 21-3981 may be an effective alternative to thiopental.

Initiated social interactions of Macaca speciosa are decreased during the period of treatment with alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine, an inhibitor of catecholamine synthesis. The treated animals maintained stable body weights and appeared to be healthy. Similar depletion of indoleamines with p-chlorophenylalanine does not change these same observed behaviors in spite of weight loss, hair loss, ataxia, and debilitation in some of the animals.

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Rats were handled daily throughtout gestation. Their litters and those of nonhandled rats were fostered to nonhandled mothers, half of whom were then housed with a virgin female (aunt). Prenatal handling decreased serotonin levels in 21‐day‐old offspring tested at the trough of the 24‐hr serotonin rhythm. Rearing with aunts resulted in lower brain weights among males, but had no effect on the serotonin levels of weanling rats. Both prenatal handling and rearing with aunts affected scores of female offspring in a reaction‐to‐handling test administered at age 56 days, but an open‐field test yielded only sex differences. Rearing with aunts differentially affected trough serotonin levels at that age, males showing a signficant decrease, whereas female values increased.