Evaluation of the psychotropic effect of etifoxine through pursuit rotor performance and GSR.

Six volunteer normal subjects, aged 18-25 years, were selected from a university student population to compare the psychotropic effects of Etifoxine, d-amphetamine and placebo. All of them received Etifoxine 300 mg, d-amphetamine 5 mg and placebo in a double-blind randomly crossover design involving a single dose weekly. The criteria studied were the GSR and performance on the pursuit-rotor. The subjects were tested before (TO), 2 (T2) and 6 (T6) hrs after drug administration. At T2, both the GSR and pursuit-rotor performance obtained with each drug differed significantly from placebo, but not between drugs. The effects of Etifoxine were similar to those of d-amphetamine in reducing the GSR and improving pursuit-rotor performance.