Reckitt and Colman Psychopharmacology Unit, School of Medical Sciences, University Walk, Bristol BS8 1 TD, UK.
J Psychopharmacol. 1991 Jan;5(4):377-87. doi: 10.1177/026988119100500432.
Techniques allowing the accurate measurement of saccadic eye movements have been developed over the last 40 years. Originally, such measurements were used to assess or diagnose oculomotor pathology. With the discovery that saccadic eye movements were altered by drugs, especially those active at the GABA/ benzodiazepine receptor complex, these changes have been used as a measure of psychomotor performance. This has now become a major application of these techniques: to investigate pharmacodynamic activity, or to assess side-effects or interactions of drugs. There is now evidence that other receptor systems (e.g. a(2)-adrenoceptor, histamine, TRH) are also involved in the control of saccades. While it is still unclear whether drug-induced changes in saccadic eye movements are due to effects on pathways generating or controlling saccades or are secondary to changes in arousal, recent studies suggest that saccade and arousal changes may be distinguished under certain conditions. The most recent development in the use of saccadic eye movements has been to examine benzodiazepine receptor sensitivity in anxiety disorders or changes in receptor sensitivity after drug treatment. Drug-induced changes in saccadic eye movements appear to offer a direct, sensitive and minimally invasive means of investigating central receptor function in man.
在过去的 40 年中，已经开发出了能够精确测量眼球跳动的技术。最初，这些测量方法被用于评估或诊断眼球运动病理学。随着人们发现眼球跳动会被药物改变，尤其是那些作用于 GABA/苯二氮䓬受体复合物的药物，这些变化已被用作精神运动表现的衡量标准。现在，这已经成为这些技术的主要应用之一：研究药效动力学活性，或评估药物的副作用或相互作用。现在有证据表明，其他受体系统（例如 a(2)-肾上腺素受体、组胺、TRH）也参与了眼球跳动的控制。虽然目前尚不清楚药物引起的眼球跳动变化是由于对产生或控制眼球跳动的通路的影响，还是由于唤醒状态的变化所致，但最近的研究表明，在某些条件下，眼球跳动和唤醒状态的变化可能是可以区分的。眼球跳动的最新应用是检查焦虑症中的苯二氮䓬受体敏感性，或药物治疗后受体敏感性的变化。药物引起的眼球跳动变化似乎为研究人类中枢受体功能提供了一种直接、敏感和微创的方法。
