APOMORPHINE-INDUCED BLINKING AND YAWNING IN HEALTHY-VOLUNTEERS

Yawning and spontaneous blink rate (SBR) are two physiological reflexes which have been incompletely examined but one neurobiological step of these two behaviours seems, at least in part, dopamine-dependent. The reference dopaminergic agonist, apomorphine hydrochloride (0.5, 1, and 2-mu-g kg-1 s.c.), was compared with a placebo in a double-blind latin-square design, and was shown to induce yawning and increase SBR in a population of eight healthy volunteers. These two behavioural effects were not dose-related. The individual SBR differences were correlated with the individual number of yawns for all the four treatments at the 10-30 min interval. Thus, parallel yawning and SBR behaviour suggests a similar pharmacological mechanism. Apomorphine-induced yawning and blinking may be therefore of use in the evaluation of central dopaminergic pathways in man.