Abstract
Bromazepam emulates the inhibitory effect of the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and can lead to impaired visuomotor performance. However, few studies have evaluated its effects on cortical coupling in target shooting activities. The present study aimed to analyze the acute effects of bromazepam administration in a target shooting task and the EEG theta rhythm coherence between frontal, temporal, and motor cortical areas in four shooting preparation periods. Thus, a double blind, crossover study was conducted with 30 subjects under two conditions: bromazepam (6mg) and placebo, with electroencephalographic analysis to simultaneously study the theta rhythm coherence in frontal, temporal, and motor cortex in a target shooting task; and the possible interferences of bromazepam administration. Subjects in the bromazepam group showed lower performance on the task compared to placebo (p=0.001). In addition, our analysis showed decreased coherence between regions in the same hemisphere, increased theta rhythm coherence in interhemispheric regions in frontal, temporal and motor cortex at different intervals in the preparation preceding the shooting (p=0.001). The use of bromazepam may influence task execution, possibly due to neurochemical modulation, during decision making, developing shooting preparation strategies, as well as interfering with the flow of information at the level of attention during task execution.
Highlights
Benzodiazepines (BDZs), especially bromazepam, belong to the most prescribed classes of medication used for anxiety due to its anxiolytic and hypnotic effects (Clark et al, 2013; Lino et al, 2017; Votaw et al, 2019)
In C3-C4 coactivation was no increase in pairs between the cortical areas having main effect for bromazepam condition with [F (1,16; 0,01) = 153.21; p = 0.001; ƞ2p = 0.69; power = 100%] for F3-F4: [F (8.63; 0.03) = 325.28; p = 0.001; ƞ2p = 0.72; power = 100%] and F4-T4 with [F (2.61; 0.01) = 279.24; p = 0.001; ƞ2p = 0.07; power =
The present study investigated the performance of the target shooting task and the spectral coherence of the theta rhythm in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, temporal, and motor cortex mover in four preparatory time-intervals (t1 (8s to 6s) t2 (6s the 4s) t3 (4s 2s) and t4 (2s to 0s) after a dose of bromazepam (6mg)
Summary
Benzodiazepines (BDZs), especially bromazepam, belong to the most prescribed classes of medication used for anxiety due to its anxiolytic and hypnotic effects (Clark et al, 2013; Lino et al, 2017; Votaw et al, 2019). Bromazepam potentiates the effects of γ-aminobutyric acid neurotransmitter (GABA), which acts as a major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system (CNS), affecting cognitive domains, such as visuospatial ability, processing speed, verbal learning (Stewart, 2005) This inhibitory action is through the GABA-receptor activation (GABA) (Sigel et al, 2018; Schependom et al, 2019), via allosteric sites, increasing neurotransmission (Golan et al, 2012). In this sense, bromazepam affects perception due to the changes in inputs and neural outputs related to the learning process and muscle relaxation during the execution of visuomotor tasks (Montenegro et al, 2005; Cunha et al, 2006; Machado et al, 2009; Gongora et al, 2014; Aprigio et al, 2015). These effects lead to the chances of interference of bromazepam in decision-making cognitive processes for shooting and cortical recruitment capacity during the pre-shooting period
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