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Ziprasidone, Diazepam, or the Combination for Prevention of Cocaine Toxicity in a Mouse Model
Author(s) -
Cleveland Nathan R.,
Krier Shay,
Heard Ken
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
academic emergency medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.221
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1553-2712
pISSN - 1069-6563
DOI - 10.1197/j.aem.2007.04.012
Subject(s) - medicine , diazepam , ziprasidone , placebo , pharmacology , sedation , anesthesia , saline , relative risk , antipsychotic , psychiatry , confidence interval , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , alternative medicine , pathology
Background Acute cocaine poisoning is a common problem in the United States. Sedation with benzodiazepines is the standard treatment, but animal studies have suggested that ziprasidone is also protective. Objectives To assess whether the combination of these two medications would offer more protection than either treatment alone. Methods This was a randomized, blinded, placebo‐controlled trial in CF‐1 mice. The authors administered intraperitoneal injections of 2 mg/kg diazepam (group D), 4 mg/kg ziprasidone (group Z), the same dose of both drugs (group DZ), or saline 15 minutes before intraperitoneal administration of 105 mg/kg cocaine (an estimated lethal dose to 70%). The number of animals with seizures and apparent lethality over the following 30 minutes was recorded. Results All treatments increased survival relative to placebo (relative risk: D = 2.6, Z = 2.3, DZ = 2.9) and decreased seizures (relative risk: D = 0.5, Z = 0.3, DZ = 0.02). Conclusions This study suggests that diazepam and ziprasidone have efficacy for preventing lethality from cocaine poisoning in an animal model but that the combination offers little addition to either therapy alone. However, the combination may be more effective for prevention of cocaine‐induced seizures.