Open assessment of the safety and efficacy of thioridazine in the treatment of patients with borderline personality disorder.

A 12-week open study was conducted to assess the possible efficacy and safety of low-dose thioridazine in 11 outpatients (8 women, 3 men) with borderline personality disorder (BPD) diagnosed according to DSM-III-R (American Psychiatric Association 1987) and the Diagnostic Interview for Borderline Patients (DIB; Gunderson et al. 1981) criteria. Mean thioridazine dose averaged 92 mg per day across the duration of this study. At endpoint, there was a significant reduction in Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS; Overall & Gorham 1988) scores, and patients appeared to be less symptomatic on the impulse action patterns, affects, and psychosis subscales of the DIB (modified to assess change). Subjects completing the entire study (n = 6) also showed improvement in interpersonal relations. On self-report measures, significant improvement was noted on most Hopkins Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90; Derogatis et al. 1973) subscales, particularly in hostility and additional depressive features. Subjects completing the entire study showed significant improvement in paranoid ideation, interpersonal sensitivity, and anxiety. Three patients, however, developed sustained melancholic depressions that necessitated their discontinuation from the study and the initiation of anti-depressant treatment. These three individuals were more schizotypal, schizoid, and paranoid at baseline according to Personality Disorder Examination (PDE; Loranger et al. 1987) structured interviews. Weight gain was not a significant problem, but sedation and erectile dysfunction were. Overall, these findings suggest that thioridazine may exert prominent effects on patients with BPD and that double-blind, placebo-controlled studies are warranted.

Brain state and body position. A time-lapse video study of sleep.

Human sleep is characterized by episodes of immobility and by major body movements occurring in phase with the EEG sleep cycle. Using time-lapse videotape recording and electrophysiological monitoring, we studied the sleep of four normal subjects to determine the relationship of the movements to sleep cycle phase and the consistency of the power of the movement data to quantify sleep parameters. We were able to measure sleep latency and to predict the time of occurrence of non-rapid eye movement sleep episodes in our subjects from the video movement data alone. In addition, we discovered evidence of small body movement specific to rapid eye movement sleep.

A comparison of membrane glycoconjugates from mouse cells transformed by murine and primate RNA sarcoma viruses.

Kirsten murine sarcoma virus (Ki-MSV) transformed Balb/eT3 mouse cells (K-Balb) were found to have altered membrane glycoconjugates compared to normal Balb/3T3 cells. There were reduced amounts of mono- and disialogangliosides, GM1 and GD1a, and activity of the specific galactosyltransferase required for synthesis of these gangliosides was reduced to between 0 and 18.5% of normal in the several K-Balb clones examined. When fucose-labeled glycopeptides derived from the surfaces of Balb/3T3 and K-Balb cells were compared by gel filtration chromatography, the glycopeptides from the transformed cells were enriched in earlier eluting components. These differences were also observed when the glycopeptides were derived from the entire cell and were diminished when the surface or cellular glycopeptides from Balb/3T3 and K-Balb were digested with neuraminidase prior to chromatographic analysis. Changes in these membrane sialoglycolipids and sialoglycopeptides were not influenced by Rauscher leukemia virus infection. In marked contrast, these changes in membrane glycoconjugates were not observed in Wooley monkey sarcoma virus (WSV) transformed Balb/3T3 cells (W-Balb). Although W-Balb cells like K-Balb were transformed by tissue culture criteria, their ganglioside composition, galactosyltransferase activity, and glycopeptide patterns were similar to normal Balb/3T3. These findings have potential implications concerning the role of these complex carbohydrates in the phenotypic alterations of transformed cells.