The effect of acute alcohol intoxication on psychometric testing and 5-HT-induced platelet aggregation in normal subjects: Modulatory role of evening primrose oil

✍ Scribed by R. Corbett; J. B. A. Meagher; B. E. Leonard

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1990
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 321 KB
• Volume: 5
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6222
• DOI: 10.1002/hup.470050310

✦ Synopsis

Groups of university students were exposed acutely to alcohol (100 ml vodka) and their performance in the Bexley Maudsley Automated Psychological Screening Tests (BMAPS) was assessed. Blood samples were also taken to assess platelet aggregation to 5-HT challenge. After 1 week's administration of evening primrose oil (EPO) or placebo under double-blind conditions the students were re-assessed. No mean difference was found in the psychometric testing of any of the groups either before or after the administration of EPO. However 5-HT-induced platelet aggregation was significantly potentiated in those groups exposed to alcohol, and was further increased in the group receiving EPO. These results suggest that platelet aggregation in response to 5-HT is more sensitive than psychometric tests commonly used to assess alcoholism in detecting changes due to acute alcohol intoxication.