Sitaram N, Nurnberger J I, Gershon E S, Gillin J C
Am J Psychiatry. 1982 May;139(5):571-6. doi: 10.1176/ajp.139.5.571.
To test the hypothesis that depression and REM sleep share common cholinergic mechanisms the authors administered arecoline 25 min after completion of the first REM period to 14 patients with remitted bipolar affective disorder, 15 normal controls, and 5 subjects with a personal or family history of affective disorder. The second REM period occurred significantly sooner in the remitted patients than in the normal controls. The patients also had a significantly higher density of eye movements during the first REM period and a higher percentage of REM sleep. The authors believe that increased cholinergic sensitivity and REM density may be biological markers of increased vulnerability to bipolar affective illness.
为了验证抑郁症与快速眼动睡眠（REM睡眠）具有共同胆碱能机制这一假说，作者在首个REM睡眠期结束25分钟后，对14名缓解期双相情感障碍患者、15名正常对照者以及5名有情感障碍个人或家族史的受试者给予了槟榔碱。缓解期患者的第二个REM睡眠期出现的时间明显早于正常对照者。患者在首个REM睡眠期的眼球运动密度也显著更高，且REM睡眠时间占比更高。作者认为，胆碱能敏感性增加和REM睡眠密度增加可能是双相情感障碍易感性增加的生物学指标。
