ABSTRACT
Buchsbaum and colleagues studied the effects of chronic administration of a long-acting benzodiazepine in patients with generalized anxiety disorder. Two types of regional analyses were used. In the first (cortical peel analysis), a 2-cm-thick ring of cortex was defined and divided into four anteroposterior segments; a relative metabolic rate was determined for each segment. In the second analysis, relative metabolic rates were determined in 12 regions of interest, selected to correspond to regions for which human autopsy studies of benzodiazepine receptor binding were available. The effects of low or moderate oral doses of diazepam on regional CMglu were studied by de Wit and colleagues in eight healthy male volunteers. The study was designed to investigate correlations between regional CMglu and mood changes. Each subject was tested three times, at one-week intervals, with placebo, a low oral dose of diazepam, and a moderate dose of diazepam.
