Biomaterial Database

The acute effects of zolpidem, administered alone and with alcohol, on cognitive and psychomotor function. 1995

C J Wilkinson

Southern California Research Institute in Los Angeles 90066-5125, USA.

BACKGROUND Skills performance impairment after acute doses of zolpidem (a short-acting, nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic), alone and with alcohol, was evaluated in 24 subjects. The study was designed to test whether the effects of zolpidem and alcohol are simply additive or reflect potentiation. METHODS Healthy male volunteers participated in a randomized, six-way crossover study of placebo, zolpidem 10 mg, or zolpidem 15 mg in combination with a placebo beverage or an alcohol dose selected to attain a peak blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% (drug administered double-blind; beverages administered single-blind). A laboratory test battery of four tasks measured concurrent information processing ability (divided attention task), information processing rate (visual backward masking task), immediate memory (Sternberg task), and sustained attention (vigilance task). The battery was repeated three times to measure peak (+45 minutes), postpeak (+130 minutes), and residual (+230 minutes) treatment effects after each dosing. RESULTS Performance on each test-battery task was significantly impaired (p < .05) by both alcohol and zolpidem (combined and each given alone) during the peak-effect assessment. Residual effects were not observed, with the exception of significant alcohol and drug effects on divided attention performance (p < .05). Analysis of variance tests revealed significant main effects of alcohol and zolpidem, but no significant alcohol-by-drug interactions were found for any measure of skills performance. In general, additive effects of alcohol were detected with zolpidem 10 mg but not with zolpidem 15 mg. CONCLUSIONS Although some additive effects of alcohol on performance skills were seen with the lower 10-mg dose of zolpidem, no nonadditive effects were found. That is, alcohol does not appear to potentiate the effects of zolpidem on the various performance skills tested in this population and at the doses and times evaluated. With the exception of persisting deficits (at 4 hours postdose) on the more demanding divided attention task, all other findings were consistent with evidence that zolpidem is a short-acting hypnotic drug.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D006993	Hypnotics and Sedatives	Drugs used to induce drowsiness or sleep or to reduce psychological excitement or anxiety.	Hypnotic,Sedative,Sedative and Hypnotic,Sedatives,Hypnotic Effect,Hypnotic Effects,Hypnotics,Sedative Effect,Sedative Effects,Sedatives and Hypnotics,Effect, Hypnotic,Effect, Sedative,Effects, Hypnotic,Effects, Sedative,Hypnotic and Sedative
D008297	Male		Males
D010919	Placebos	Any dummy medication or treatment. Although placebos originally were medicinal preparations having no specific pharmacological activity against a targeted condition, the concept has been extended to include treatments or procedures, especially those administered to control groups in clinical trials in order to provide baseline measurements for the experimental protocol.	Sham Treatment
D011597	Psychomotor Performance	The coordination of a sensory or ideational (cognitive) process and a motor activity.	Perceptual Motor Performance,Sensory Motor Performance,Visual Motor Coordination,Coordination, Visual Motor,Coordinations, Visual Motor,Motor Coordination, Visual,Motor Coordinations, Visual,Motor Performance, Perceptual,Motor Performance, Sensory,Motor Performances, Perceptual,Motor Performances, Sensory,Perceptual Motor Performances,Performance, Perceptual Motor,Performance, Psychomotor,Performance, Sensory Motor,Performances, Perceptual Motor,Performances, Psychomotor,Performances, Sensory Motor,Psychomotor Performances,Sensory Motor Performances,Visual Motor Coordinations
D011725	Pyridines	Compounds with a six membered aromatic ring containing NITROGEN. The saturated version is PIPERIDINES.
D003071	Cognition	Intellectual or mental process whereby an organism obtains knowledge.	Cognitive Function,Cognitions,Cognitive Functions,Function, Cognitive,Functions, Cognitive
D004305	Dose-Response Relationship, Drug	The relationship between the dose of an administered drug and the response of the organism to the drug.	Dose Response Relationship, Drug,Dose-Response Relationships, Drug,Drug Dose-Response Relationship,Drug Dose-Response Relationships,Relationship, Drug Dose-Response,Relationships, Drug Dose-Response
D004311	Double-Blind Method	A method of studying a drug or procedure in which both the subjects and investigators are kept unaware of who is actually getting which specific treatment.	Double-Masked Study,Double-Blind Study,Double-Masked Method,Double Blind Method,Double Blind Study,Double Masked Method,Double Masked Study,Double-Blind Methods,Double-Blind Studies,Double-Masked Methods,Double-Masked Studies,Method, Double-Blind,Method, Double-Masked,Methods, Double-Blind,Methods, Double-Masked,Studies, Double-Blind,Studies, Double-Masked,Study, Double-Blind,Study, Double-Masked
D004347	Drug Interactions	The action of a drug that may affect the activity, metabolism, or toxicity of another drug.	Drug Interaction,Interaction, Drug,Interactions, Drug
D004357	Drug Synergism	The action of a drug in promoting or enhancing the effectiveness of another drug.	Drug Potentiation,Drug Augmentation,Augmentation, Drug,Augmentations, Drug,Drug Augmentations,Drug Potentiations,Drug Synergisms,Potentiation, Drug,Potentiations, Drug,Synergism, Drug,Synergisms, Drug