Am J Psychiatry 1992; 149:1369-1373
Copyright © 1992 by American Psychiatric Association
Effects of sodium lactate infusion on cisternal lactate and carbon dioxide levels in nonhuman primates
JD Coplan, T Sharma, LA Rosenblum, S Friedman, TB Bassoff, RL Barbour and JM Gorman
Department of Psychiatry, State University of New York-Health Science Center, Brooklyn.
OBJECTIVE: To further the understanding of lactate-induced panic in
patients with panic disorder, the authors examined cisternal lactate and
carbon dioxide levels in nonhuman primates after infusions of sodium
lactate comparable to those used in studies of human beings. METHOD: CSF
and venous blood lactate, pH, PCO2, PO2, and bicarbonate were measured in
five ketamine-anesthetized nonhuman primates, without mechanical
ventilation, before and after they underwent infusions of sodium lactate.
In addition, the same measurements were made for three of the five subjects
who were given saline infusions. RESULTS: Despite the development of the
characteristic peripheral biochemical effects of infused sodium
lactate--increased lactate and bicarbonate levels and metabolic
alkalosis--no increases in central lactate or carbon dioxide levels were
observed. Saline infusions produced no biochemical effects on venous and
cisternal measures. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study are in keeping
with previous findings of nonpermeability of the blood-brain barrier to
anionic compounds such as lactate. They therefore support theories of
lactate panic based on cognitive and/or brainstem misevaluation of
peripheral somatic sensations.
