The Peripheral Effects of Cholinergic and Adrenergic Drugs on Palmar Skin Conductance in Humans

Abstract

<p> The pharmacology of autonomic innervation to the peripheral skin conductance (SC) effector was studied. The drugs used included atropine, bretylium, acetylcholine (ACh), epinephrine (EPI), and amphetamine. Drugs were administered by iontophoresis (IPS) and by local subcutaneous injection. Although several IPS procedures were used, all proved to be inefficient and unreliable. Subsequent experiments using atropine and ACh supported the theory that innervation to the peripheral SC effector was mainly cholinergic. However, results obtained using EPI suggest that an adrenergic component might also be involved. It was concluded though that this component probably had little physiological significance. Experiments using amphetamine and bretylium were inconclusive. A comparison of behavioral and drug induced changes in SC suggested that the psychological relevance of SC might be improved through a range-correction based on pharmacologically determined SC range scores.</p>