Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

D J Edwards

Publications and source records attributed to D J Edwards.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

Perception of crowding and personal space as a function of locus of control, arousal seeking, sex of experimenter, and sex of subject.

Twelve male and female college students served as Es and individually administered the following tests to a total of 72 male and female college students: Mehrabian and Russell's scale of Arousal-Seeking Tendency (AST), the Nowicki-Strickland scale of locus of control (ANSIE), a crowding perception test (CPT), and a figure placement task measuring perceived comfortable interpersonal distance (CID). Contrary to prediction, zero correlations were obtained between AST and CPT scores and between ANSIE scores and CID distances involving strangers. Low but significant correlations between CPT and CID scores were obtained. Analysis of variance of CID scores revealed a significant interaction between sex of S and locus of control that was not easy to interpret, and significant effects of degree of acquaintance, status, and sex of an approaching peer. A significant sex of E effect indicated that distances were larger with a female than with a male E. AST scores were larger for female than for male Ss, and larger with a male E than a female one.

Adolescent↗

Interactive effects of brain catecholamines and variations in sexual and non-sexual arousal on copulatory behavior of male rats.

In pargyline pretreated male rats, an intraventricular 6-hydroxydopamine procedure which resulted in subtotal brain catecholamine (CA) depletion produced a mild defict in copulatory behavior followed by rapid recovery. Challenges employed to study the behavioral capacities of these 'recovered' animals revealed: (1) a heightened sensitivity to acute treatment with the CA synthesis inhibitor alpha-methyl tyrosine (AMT) as reflected in a reinstatement and exaggeration of the original copulation deficit; (2) a greater dependence on the sexual eliciting properties of the female, since abolishing her soliciting behavior also reinstated and exaggerated the sexual dysfunction; and (3) a pattern of behavioral impairment indicating increased difficulty in both initiating sexual activity and maintaining copulatory performance. Furthermore, in males not copulating after 6-OHDA/AMT treatment, copulation could easily be induced by the simple application of a non-specific activating stimulus. On the basis of these data and parallel findings reported for other behaviors, we have concluded that: (1) both the initiation and maintenance of copulatory behavior in the male rat is the part dependent on normal functioning in one or more of the brain CA-containing systems; and (2) this copulatory deficit is symptomatic of a broader functional impairment reflecting reduced behavioral responsiveness to stimuli that normally elict appetitive or approach responses but not to stimuli requiring more automatic, inhibitory responses.

Animals↗

Phenethylamines in brain and liver of rats with experimentally induced phenylketonuria-like characteristics.

1. Phenethylamines were extracted from brain and liver of rats with phenylketonuria-like characteristics produced in vivo by inhibition of phenylalanine hydroxylase (EC 1.14.3.1) with p-chlorophenylalanine, with or without phenylalanine administration. To protect amines against oxidation by monoamine oxidase, pargyline was also administered. 2. beta-Phenethylamine was the major compound found in brain and liver. beta-Phenethanolamine and octopamine were also present, in lesser amounts, and the concentrations of these three amines paralleled blood phenylalanine concentrations. By comparison, tissues from control animals had only very low concentrations of these amines. 3. Small amounts of normetadrenaline, m-tyramine and 3-methoxytyramine were also found. 4. The inhibitors used, p-chlorophenylalanine and pargyline, gave rise to p-chlorophenethylamine and benzylamine respectively, the first via decarboxylation, the second probably by breakdown during extraction. 5. Distribution of phenethylamines in different brain regions and in subcellular fractions of rat brain cells was also investigated. The content of phenethylamine was highest in the striatum. 6. These findings are discussed in the light of changes occurring in human patients with uncontrolled phenylketonuria.

Animals↗