Comparison between subjective feelings to alcohol and nitrogen narcosis: A pilot study

Nitrogen narcosis is often compared to alcohol intoxication, but no actual studies have been carried out in humans to test the comparability of these effects. If a common mechanism of action is responsible for the behavioral effects of these substances, biological variability of response to alcohol...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Alcohol (Fayetteville, N.Y.) N.Y.), 1996, Vol.13 (1), p.75-78
Main Authors: Monteiro, M.G, Hernandez, W, Figlie, N.B, Takahashi, E, Korukian, M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Alcoholic Intoxication - physiopathology
Alcoholism and acute alcohol poisoning
Atmospheric Pressure
Biological and medical sciences
Diving
Ethanol
Ethanol - blood
Ethanol - pharmacology
Genetic differences
Humans
Hyperbaric environment
Inert Gas Narcosis - physiopathology
Intoxication
Male
Medical sciences
Nitrogen - pharmacology
Nitrogen narcosis
Pilot Projects
Toxicology
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Summary:Nitrogen narcosis is often compared to alcohol intoxication, but no actual studies have been carried out in humans to test the comparability of these effects. If a common mechanism of action is responsible for the behavioral effects of these substances, biological variability of response to alcohol should correlate to that of nitrogen in the same individual. To test this hypothesis, subjective feelings were assessed in two separate occasions in 14 adult male, healthy volunteers, nonprofessional divers. In one occasion, each subject received 0.75 ml/kg (0.60 g/kg) alcohol 50% (v/v PO) and in another day underwent a simulated dive at 50 m for 30 min in a hyperbaric chamber. There was a significant correlation between reported feelings in the two sessions; subjects who felt less intoxicated after drinking also felt less nitrogen narcosis during the simulated dive. The results, although preliminary, raise the hypothesis that ethanol and nitrogen may share the same mechanisms of action in the brain and that biological differences might account for interindividual variability of responses to both ethanol and nitrogen.
ISSN:0741-8329
1873-6823
DOI:10.1016/0741-8329(95)02016-0