Automated sleep EEG analysis applied to the evaluation of drugs: illustration by study of clorazepate dipotassium.

An automated sleep EEG analysis system was used to evaluate the effects of clorazepate dipotassium in normal subjects. Ten young-adult men slept 18 consecutive nights in the laboratory. On days 8-15 clorazepate (7.5 mg) was administered three times daily; on days 5-7 and 16-18 a placebo was administered in a similar fashion. The drug reduced amounts of alpha and delta activity and increased the amount of beta activity and the number of spindles. These effects generally persisted through the 3 day placebo recovery period. Our results suggest that sleep EEG waveform descriptors are sensitive indicators of drug activity and that beta activity in particular may be useful in the detailed description of various drug effects.